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Back to Basics- MMORPG advice ?
manta13
Member Posts: 3
Hello keepers of the MMO knowledge... I was hoping someone could assist me in picking the correct game... I am a more casual MMORPG gamer, but a fan nonetheless. (If I find the right fit, I assume I will move from casual to devoted)
My brief history of MMO gaming
Anarchy - First MMORPG experience. Graphically challenged and a little too rinse/repeat for me. I suppose I was hoping for a Shadowrun-esque experience.. (loaded it up again recently, not impressed)
Planetside - Great concept, fun game logged lots of hours, left due to shrinking community and SOE desire to launch an expansion pack when core game needed additional tweaking and population. (No desire to reinstall or try again at this time)
Guild Wars - Great concenpt, very fast-paced and easy to jump into. Nowhere near the RP or depth that I personally am looking for..
WOW - Great experience when playing with friends/ guildmates. Bad community experience otherwise (ganking irritated me to no end when attempting to solo) I was happy during my time with WOW but wanted a more authentic RPG experience. I dont exactly know what that means but maybe someone else can explain it ? lol...
Eve Online.. - Only played a trial account. I think it wopuld be a great game with tons of depth but for me personally I think it is too deep...
Vangaurd - Actually was in Beta (LOL) Just show you they let in anyone.. Did not have the time to invest when I got invited.. Doh! From the little I played it was buggy and my machine was antiquated so my comments/experience with it don't count for .....
I may be all over the map here , sci-fi to FPS to Fantasy but I am open to many types of games. I suppose I am looking for a game that can be played casually if I cannot afford the time due to work/life. I have EQ2 sitting on the shelf. Was looking at LOTR, waiting for Conan as the mixture of RPG with an intuitive combat system peaks my interest...
Does anyone have any suggestions or comments on the below games in relation to the games I have already played..? (go easy on me 
EQ2
LOTR
Vanguard
AOC ?
I like the RPG element to be strong.. I dont mind grinding as long as there are more engaging quests/storylines as a reward....
I like strong graphics and presentation. Wow had problems keeping my attention at times because of the toon-ish artwork. It was spectacular, don't get me wrong, but for me it did not feel as realistic.
I am not really into PVP.. Its nice to have the option at higher levels I suppose but I would rather play PVE...
Thx!
Comments
EQ2 is a great game, and it has a free trial. If you check the game list (see top of page), you'll find lots of other games with trials, it's really worth checking.
Btw, it's VangUArd
I have been playing LOTRO since launch and love the game its got amazing graphics, good for casual players, great concept if you enjoy the books, and the community is extremely nice and easy going ( Nothing compared to WoW which i have also played)
For engaging plot lines and storey development, I think that LOTRO is at the top easy. I would highly recoomend giving the 7 day free trial of LOTRO a go. Also, the price of the game itself is very cheap compared to others right now (Last I saw it was $15)
AOC is still in beta, dont hold out for that, it will be a while.
Good Luck
Torrential
Torrential: DAOC (Pendragon)
Awned: World of Warcraft (Lothar)
Torren: Warhammer Online (Praag)
I generally avoid "recommend me an MMORPG" for many reasons.
Speaking for myself, I like deep PvE games with 1) world immersion, 2) deep Questing, 3) solo opportunities such as tasking, 4) intense and fun combat, and 5) great full-group and small-group dungeons. I did not find that in WoW or LotR. I play Vanguard, mostly, but I also play EQ 1 and EQ 2 casually with a Station Pass. [NOTE: I might be canceling my Station Pass and only play Vanguard if it keeps getting better.]
You can see my review of Vanguard here: www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/157317 Performance is better. Classes have been modified and nerfed. Content has been expanded. Quests have been added such as epic mounts. Overall, I think it is fun.
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WoW and fast food = commercial successes.
I neither play WoW nor eat fast food.
Isnt that a singleplayer game with the possibilities to play online.
I dont understand why someone would want to pay 15$ a month to play a game then try to avoid any interaction with real players.
My cool sig: Turrets suck.
I am not sure what you mean by "then try to avoid any interaction with real players." I play MMORPGs because of the interaction (grouping, guilds, trading, crafting) with other players.
If you have the system to play, Vanguard is amazingly immersive.
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WoW and fast food = commercial successes.
I neither play WoW nor eat fast food.
Isnt that a singleplayer game with the possibilities to play online.
I dont understand why someone would want to pay 15$ a month to play a game then try to avoid any interaction with real players.
You can interact with other players in other ways than just PvP. Grouping, RP, trade etc....they are all still there in PvE games too.
Notice: The views expressed in this post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the reviews of MMORPG.com or its management.
Neil Thompson
Staff Writer
MMORPG.com
From what the OP said...I'd say go with EQ2 or LOTRO.
My 2 cents.
D.
Thanks all for the insight.. I may go ahead and load up EQ2..
Although, I thought I had seen some issues reported with Vista 64 and/or the 8800GTS ? .. Is this still the case or am I talking about a different game ?
Thanks again!
Sure, it is a pleasure to help. I like to post during lunch breaks and things.
I like EQ 2. I like EQ 2 a lot, but I thought it was just me but apparently it is not. EQ 2, honestly, feels a bit tedious to me in the mid-range levels. I have not logged into the game since RoK. I like RoK a lot but it is geared toward the higher-level players.
The combat and gameplay in EQ 2 does not have the excitement and intensity that I enjoy from games such as Vanguard and EQ 1. The EQ 2 character customization is great, but I actually prefer the Vanguard class system, overall. [Oh, but if you do not have the system, I do not recommend Vanguard; if you have the system including sound card and video card, you will really enjoy it.]
I hope that the above is helpful for you.
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WoW and fast food = commercial successes.
I neither play WoW nor eat fast food.
EQ2 on one of the two RP servers.
For best prospects, start in the new play area; make some friends.
If you are a Solo player, then be Necromancer.
By the way, if you can afford the freight, get a set of 8800GT cards.
Google 8800GTS or 8800GTX problems to get an idea of why.
Good Hunting
I am not sure what you mean by "then try to avoid any interaction with real players." I play MMORPGs because of the interaction (grouping, guilds, trading, crafting) with other players.
If you have the system to play, Vanguard is amazingly immersive.
LOL Truenorthbg always beats me to the punch. Ditto on what True said.
Sure, it is a pleasure to help. I like to post during lunch breaks and things.
I like EQ 2. I like EQ 2 a lot, but I thought it was just me but apparently it is not. EQ 2, honestly, feels a bit tedious to me in the mid-range levels. I have not logged into the game since RoK. I like RoK a lot but it is geared toward the higher-level players.
The combat and gameplay in EQ 2 does not have the excitement and intensity that I enjoy from games such as Vanguard and EQ 1. The EQ 2 character customization is great, but I actually prefer the Vanguard class system, overall. [Oh, but if you do not have the system, I do not recommend Vanguard; if you have the system including sound card and video card, you will really enjoy it.]
I hope that the above is helpful for you.
Once agin, LOL on the fact that me and True have the same opinion on EQ2. Great game, just couldn't catch me and hold me like Vanguard has. I would go so far as to say, that Vanguard feels more like the succesor to EQ than EQ2 does. I used to play EQ, and Vanguard is the closest thing to those good-ole days for me. Not to mention the graphics are simply breathtaking. Also I agree with True, you need a fairly powerful machine to play this game the way it was meant to played.
EQ 2 is worth looking into.
Be prepared though , that client is a pig to install .
And, you can update the EQ2 client in stages.
Minimum update to start playing sooner, and then the optional updates while you sleep.
RoK package also cuts down on some of that by supplying some of the previously needed downloads.
Good Hunting.
I would go with LOTRO, as you seem to be looking for a strong RPG element with a lot of lore. The world and artwork is gorgeous everywhere in the game, so that is definitely a plus since it's something you're looking for. The PvP option is available too but not required. As I'm sure you know, LOTRO has MvP where you can choose to play your main character against Monster Players or you can create one of each Monster Player and play against the Free Peoples... or you can mix it up and do both.
LOTRO seems like the clear winner here and no I'm not a fanboi. I play LOTRO casually and have a Rank 3 Level 50 Burglar and I play on the (un)official roleplaying server Landroval.
However, MvP has a critical flaw, and is not played much anymore (at least on my server).
The flaw is, that it is really newb (pre-50) players vs level-cap (50) players. Now, the early fights were great. You had a mass of lower powered newbs playing lvl 50 monsters fighting a large number (but usually fewer) powerful level 50 players. Good times.
But as time has gone on, more and more of the population has gotten up to level cap, and there are fewer and fewer new players playing the monsters. So, because the Free People players are just getting stronger and better geared and more numerous over time, it is no longer any contest at all. The Freeps just roll over the Creeps whenever they wish.
So, the Ettenmoors seem rather empty these days. Most of the Freeps are all doing the new Raid content and other stuff that is continually being added. No love for the Monsters, I am afraid.
I am sure it will change, eventually.
One other thing to note, the LoTRO world is really quite small compared to WoW, EQ1, DAoC, or the other mainline titles. After level 15, *everyone* pretty much ends up in the same area, Bree, and proceeds through all the same content (except Class quests) from there on. This makes replaying as a different Race kind of pointless.
Anyway, LoTRO or EQ2, both are quite good games.
LOTRO is excellent. It has everything you mentioned that you are looking for. It is great for casual play; I often go on for an hour or two, do some things, then log off to go to work or whatever. It also has a great backstory, roleplay elements, etc. The crafting system is good, but doesn't force you to craft to have decent equipment. As for immersion, they did an excellent job having players on a side story track that goes along with the books without tripping over the fact that everyone can't be Frodo or Gandalf, etc. A previous poster mentioned that grinding is non-existent; I'm not sure if he was saying that was a good thing or not, but xp from grinding mobs is very small and most of your xp will be from quests. Quests are categorized into solo-able and fellowship quests; with the fellowship ones aimed very much at team play with everyone doing their class job to get it done right.
Everquest II is huge, has a zillion classes to play (though many of them overlap in their role in a group), has a lot of race choices, lots of quests, lots of items, etc. The biggest problem I had with EQ2 is the tiered abilities. You don't just have to work at getting good equipment, you now have to craft your abilities to do the best damage, or heal the best, or have the best buff; or, if you don't want to be a crafter, you have to have money to buy them, which can be extremely expensive to players just starting out. The system wouldn't be so bad if there was incentive for crafters to make lower level abilities, and if the items to create them weren't so rare, or if there was a way to get them via npc vendors or via quests; unfortunately the game forces player crafting upon you too much in my opinion.
Vanguard... well, I had high hopes and bought the game on the day of release even though it was unplayable during open beta. Last month I reopened my account to give it another go, but my dual core processor and Nvidia 7600 512MB, 2GB system ram doesn't cut it. I'm lucky to get 9 fps from that game when in a small town; going up to maybe 15 fps when out adventuring unless there's fog. That's with all the graphics options turned to minimum, AA off, AF off. Believe me when I say I really wanted to be able to play this game; I tried adjusting every setting there is for hours on end, but in the end my system just couldn't handle it. What really bothers me the most about that is that it doesn't really look all that great even with all the graphics goodies turned on; LOTRO looks better and has 5 times the performance, but that's just my opinion.
Don't discount some of the older games. Everquest has come a long way with what... 13 expansions under the hood now? There's a lot more quests; gear is a lot easier to get; and the low level experience is vastly improved, not to mention it's had a few graphics upgrades. The big pro to this game is insanely massive content, huge depth. The world is BIG; easily the largest territory of any mmorpg in existence. There are so many different items, your fighter might be just as well equipped as 100 other fighters your level and not have a single item in common with any of them. The problem with the game is the extremely low population at lower levels; and most that are playing low level characters are rushing through the low levels with money from their higher level alts.
That brings me to Dark Age of Camelot. This is one of the best mmorpgs ever made; so much better than WoW it makes my head hurt to know that so many play WoW and so few play DAoC. That right there is the biggest problem with it; like EQ is has a very low population at lower levels. There may be 1000 people on the server, but you can't find anyone to group with your level 12 shaman because 900 of those people are level 50, and the other 100 are crafting. That being said, if you love pve there is tons of content for you, with lots of quests and places to explore and monsters to battle. If you love pvp, DAoC has the best there is. Let me elaborate a bit about that. You can play the pve game without ever once seeing a player from one of the other realms (DAoC is divided into 3 realms, or sides of the pvp conflict), so there will be no ganking from griefers while you're trying to level. When you first create a character on a server, you have to decide which realm you will play on that server; you will then only be able to play as characters from that realm; you cannot chat with players of other realms. PvP has a purpose in DAoC; in the pvp areas (or RvR as it's known there) there are keeps and towers that can be owned by any of the 3 realms, and certain "home" keeps for each realm; there are relics that can be captured and brought to your realm's keep that give bonuses to your side, like increased strength or stronger spells. Thus player versus player combat is not just about titles and "look at me I'm uber"; there's actual benefits that can be gained from victory.
Horizons is another one to check out with a free trial. Amazing crafting system, houses that you actually build, community building such as bridges to span rivers that normally can't be crossed; crafting is more than just making items for individuals in this game. You can play a humanoid race (there are several), or you can play a dragon which uses a different system from swords and armor of the humanoids, and you can fly as a dragon! Check out video sites like Youtube for videos of dragon flight.
Anarchy Online is a thriving sci-fi setting mmorpg. The core game is free to play; no time limit; no level limit; no equipment restrictions to core content. The expansion content is monthly fee to play, and is recommended for the full experience, but the free content is quite good. It is definately not a game for people new to mmorpgs; it has a very complex skill system, and you can play for weeks before realizing you screwed up miserably and either have to spend reset points or reroll your character. Some people love that complexity, though, which gives the game a unique flavor not found anywhere else that I've found, except maybe Eve (which just makes my brain hurt). Amazingly, for such an old game (started in 1999), there is a lot of players of all levels, perhaps because of the free to play aspect.
The best advice I can give, besides the information I just shared, is to check out player made videos of gameplay in the various games on Youtube, and to try out the free trials. The only way to really know which game fits YOU is to try them.
OMG! I forgot Asheron's Call, but then I've never tried it so I can't say much, but it's still around after all these years so it must have done something right.
Dungeons and Dragons Online, aka DDO, is a good game if you can get used to it. It actually follows the pencil/paper game pretty closely with a few changes to fit it into a realtime online game. It basically consists of a world where you sell loot and buy gear, and instanced quests which are the D&D type modules. In that sense it's not really an mmorpg, more like Dungeon Siege or Neverwinter Nights, but with your character stored on the server. What I didn't like about it was that you only have 10 levels (they've increased that since launch), so it takes forever and ever to level (they have mini-levels that give you some upgrading between the actual levels). You get no xp from killing mobs, only from completing quests, of which there are not enough so you have to repeat them to level.
the 8800gts problems were all user error. i went to google and typed in 8800gts problems and it was a bunch of morons with wrong drivers, antivirus and overclocking. after checking or updating those or one of the other various dumb problems everything was fixed.
i have a gts myself and everything is good o.O
if your card makes a high pitch noise when you start your computer and blame the card series LOL
blame the idiot who smashed your nvidia box against the wall in the backroom before he sold it to you.
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