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The WoW before WoW.
tigris67
Member UncommonPosts: 1,762
Yes, this is my inquiry. Started my MMO life in early 2001 played EQ for a good 4 years untill WoW hit the shelves and I tried it out. My question to you all is, What would you consider the big hit MMO before WoW came along. The mainstream game that had the most subs! In my opinion though it was Everquest, but I don't know the cold hard facts!
Disclaimer: This thread is just a "remember back then thread" and nothing more.
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Comments
Prior to Wow i believe it was EQ that had the largest player base. It was probably only at about 500K subs though.
When EQ was in its prime UO, AC and the upstart DAOC were all also in there prime, it spread the player base out a bit.
UO -> EQ -> WOW
At least from my experience.
And unfortunately, the same order hold's true for my enjoyment of these MMO's.
UO >>> EQ >>>>>> WOW.
Yep that list sounds right to me tho i do belive there was another MMO before UO [tho it was pretty basic in design ] sadlytho i cant remember its name.
"Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god."
-- Jean Rostand
I think Meridian 59 was released a year or two before UO, but I don't think it was ever overly popular.
And yep your quite right it Bombed but it WAS a MMO. UO was the first MMO tho to be popular and to do things right.
"Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god."
-- Jean Rostand
I had the pleasure of playing Meridian 59.. It was like Doom, only it was online and it was fantasy setting. Didn't play it for long, but I do get to proudly spout off about how I played one of the first MMOs ever created.
Heh it was before my time sadly.
"Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god."
-- Jean Rostand
now that really depends on what you consider "doing it right"
meridian 59 imo is a simpler version of the godsend of all mmo's people are waiting for wondering if it is vapor.......darkfall.
let me tell you also it was popular i played it at open and it was before UO i believe and yes it was a high population for mmo's at that time keeping in mind this was before tehre were 3 computers to every household. If only 3do kept in the mmo market cause wow talk about pvp with consequences.... you xp to gain 1 hp there were no levels , when you died you lost 1 hp, man oh man you think griefing is bad now i remeber me and my real life friend used to drop people down to 25 hp's and keep killing them simply saying re roll ......and they did.
mmo's were good clean fun in those days none of this cookie cutter crap that pops outta korea every 2 seconds
I really have no idea, but I'm gonna guess EQ and DAOC were pretty big, back in the day. Again, just a guess. Also I hear people talk about UO too, but not sure how big that game got.
Meridian 59 was first 1996, then The Realm Online also in 96, then UO in 97, then EQ and AC came out at about the same time in 99, then DAOC in 01.
As far as peak subscriptions go:
Meridian 58?
The Realm Online- 25000
UO- 250000
EQ- 420000-550000 depending on source
AC- 120000
DAOC- 250000
So those were the bricks that laid the foundation of the MMORPG genre. Too bad we cant go back to those days. Although, i believe every one of them is still be played today.
Back before the W word I was playing the most pre cu SWG and DAOC. Started playing MMOs in 2000 playing Ragnarok Online beta and then switching to DAOC and Asheron's Call. They were all very crowded games at the time. I miss those days actually hehe.
I'm pretty sure Lineage was up and running around those same time frames, and it blew all those others out of the water as far as total subscribers go (with a million +). But of course Lineage was an Asian game, so I'd tend to disregard it myself.
The Realm was pretty good for it's time. Not sure what kind of numbers it had, but I remember it being pretty packed.
Maybe too "old school" for some.
If we are talking western subs only the other posters are right. But otherwise leaving off Lineage and Lineage 2 is a big mistake since the two have always had considerably more subs than even EQ1.
In the west it was EQ. It had over 500,000 subscribers at one time. UO never neared that number, and, imo, wasn't a fun game.
In the east I believe Lineage had a million subscribers or more.
Before WoW, Lineage was the big monster with 4 million subscribers split between Lineage and Lineage 2.
Prior to Lineage the record breaking monster was Final Fantasy with 600,000.
Runescape was and still is.
Don't cry about it... it's just harsh facts
Futilez - Mature MMORPG Community
Correcting people since birth.
I was one of the late ones to start WoW, but i loved it the moment i began. I started doing quests and they were enjoyable, then i made a twink (funded by friends), and i was hooked. But than it lost something. The fact that everyone around me had to put in no effort to lvl and could just go kill lidian blindfolded, while i was stuck in a state of Nirvana constantly struggling to get up some lvls so i could be like one of them.
But EQ didnt lose that. There is something about some MMORPGs that gives you the energy to keep driving on to have fun later on, but also while your doing it u can have MORE fun.
And that, i beleive, is why people grow to hate WoW. WoW still has something glowing that makes me want to go back to it. Its a bit like looking back to your first kiss...
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suuuurreee
In the west I would say it was UO -> EQ -> WoW
but as far as subs go, Lineage 1 and Lineage 2 are second only to WoW worldwide.
http://www.mmogchart.com/
And yes, my previous numbers post did not add in Asian games, their numbers were always higher. you also had FFXI that came out in 03 i think that topped at 750000.