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Looking for opinions please =o)
XEyeSpyX
Member Posts: 14
Hi gang! I've been off hunting for a new RPG to play. I've tried AstoniaIII and I really like the idea, but the lag there is horrible and the staff is even worse. (I could rant on my experience with them, but I'll save it. LOL) I've also tried Fairyland - almost become a GM there but turned down offer because really, the game need a lot of work and I see that the GM's catch a lot of flack for the problems in the games that they cannpt fix. It was a very "cute" game - almost too cute. But they are about to go point based for their payment system and you spend sooooooo much time leveling up your skills that you'd be paying literally to stand there and stare at the screen doing nothing. LOL! You can't move whilst the character is "working". I've tried Tibia, but I only remember I grew rather bored of it very quickly. That was a year ago though. I thought about trying EQ - but from the reviews I've read, it says basically it's not a newbie friendly game at all. So ok - here's basically what I'm looking for:
- Inexpensive and worth the cost of gaming. (Between $10-$15 a month)
- Fantasy with Magic use involved. I love being a magic user
- Female characters exist. I am NOT a man - I hate running around in games as a man. LOL!
- Lag time is reasonable (not like your in the middle of a battle and *WAM* you're dead because the lag monster bit ya in the but. I have 56K dial up connection - the option for a high speed connection does not exist where I live. So I'm stuck with the snail speed. But I have played a few good games with a minimal lag even at my current speed. So I know it's possible.
- Quests- I love quests! I especially like quests that get your experience points.
- The ability to control your attributes. I like being able to make certain attribute higher than others - pending my own strategy for my character. I really dislike games that take control of this all, disallowing you that freedom.
- FRIENDLY & DECENT staffing. I really don't like these games that hire staff that turn into trigger happy idiots and care nothing about answering questions, and resolving game problems.
- Leveling is not an insanely difficult thing to do where you are REQUIRED to have no life just to get to level 2. LOL! I also don't want it to become boring after you get past a certain level.
- Level is an advantage to your ability to kill monsters/human characters.
- PK'ing is an option. I don't like being a PK and I don't like being PK'ed when my experience is to play the game to complete it, not to show everyone I'm a Billy bad ars like most of the kids get into the games for.
- Graphics is decent - I have NVida (spelling?) Graphics card my husband bought for me. I believe it's 64MB (not spectacular, but good enough). So I can handle some graphics. Although Graphics shouldn't be a reaosn to cause the game to lag.
- Prefer non-point & click system set up. Really gets annoying when you have to click click click click click click click click just to walk across the screen. Really liked Fairyland's option to hold the mouse down and you walk where ever you move your mouse (no click after first one).
- Chat is optional. Sometimes I like to be able to ask for help - especially when staff is around or high level players are around. Other times, I'm so involved in the game - I don't really want to hat much. So I like to turn chat off and on.
- Clan is available. I like top join clans when I've gotten frustrated with certain quests and need something else entertaining to do. LOL!
- Really don't like the games that require you to do petty skills like hunt, fish, cook, brew, sew ect.. just to achieve the idea of having armor, potions, weapons and complete certain quests. I mean it's ok to have these things in the game, but don't force meinto taking part in it just to survive the game! If it must be in a game, at least allow the character to be interactive in it, instead of like Fairyland where a bubble appears over your head saying "Working" and you just stare at the screen while waiting for level 30 to come up. LOL!
- FREE TRIAL of at least 15 days or more!!! This is a must. I will not pay for a game to find out in two days I hate it. Money doesn't grow on trees in my house. So I have not the dough to throw away!
- You only have to download one thing - the game. No expansion packs required, or needed to futher your enjoyment of the game. Especially not one that requires you to pay out more money.
- No CD buying required. Meaning - the game doesn't require you to go to some store somewhere and spend money on the CD and then money is required to be spent on playing the game monthly. Monthly fees are fine, but "starter" fees just to get INTO the game is not OK in my book.
OK so now that I have my likes and dislikes out there - does this sound like anything you guys/gals have played? I know.. I know... there's a list over <------- there to read and pick from. But again, I'm on 56K dial up. To download one 500MB game it takes me about 4-5 days. So I download it, play it, don't like it and now have wasted time and space (hard drive space) just to find I don't like it. I know - what keeps me from doing that if you give your opinion? Well at least this way - I have a clue about the game and I would be willing to give it a more in depth run knowing that a few people say it's worth the try versus my trying it based on the game creators word "over-view". Sometimes the descriptions are vague, and the forums are not very helpful on the official sites. That or you have to go through a questioning process (what's your political choice? Your blood type? Your race? Your religion? Your marital status? Your financial status? ect...) just to simply view or ask a question within their forum. So now that you see all my hopes for the perfect game - can anyone suggest anything? I won't bust on you for suggesting something I dislike. Just being helpful is enough to get a thanks from me. And for those of you aggresive/argumentative folks just waiting to pounce on a picky chick like me - don't bother. I'm not here for a "hen pecking" ordeal. Those types of replies will be ignored. I just thought this would be a good place to ask for some opinions from some seirous/semi-serious gamers. Thanks in advance for the helpful words! 
-=EyeSpy=-
-=Game Reviewer=-
-=EyeSpy=-
-=Game Reviewer=-
Comments
DAoC Meets almost all of those. Other than the good customer service point (I have yet to see this in a MMORPG.), it meets them all. I think they still have a 7 Day free trial if you look on www.camelotherald.com
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Long Term MMO's Played:
Ultima Online - 3 Years
Dark Age of Camelot - 3 Years
Less Than 1 Month:
Shadowbane, Planetside
Everquest, Ragnarok Online
City of Heroes, Star Wars Galaxies
Horizons, Fung Wan Online
The Sims Online
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| Final Fantasy | Free iPod |
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-=EyeSpy=-
-=Game Reviewer=-
-=EyeSpy=-
-=Game Reviewer=-
This is a Paste of My Review I did for the game. It may look like a bash, but I just basically listed the reason why I quit. This is by no means the game's only pitfalls, but the Top 5. Daoc is a GREAT game, but could be better if these points were addressed. (And from the Camelot Vault http://camelotvault.ign.com which i still read, in hopes that they may fix these issues. I hear that the Radar usage is being addressed right now.,)
On Jul 19, 2004 Trebek wrote:
Ive played DAoC for over 2 years, and had several characters on all the realms, and I have to say, of all the MMO's Ive played, DAOC is the best. It is very diverse, and not too slow, like some others. The Community is decent, and RP is good on RP servers, but poor on all others. Those are the good points of the game. Now on to the bad. Instead of a Rant, Ill just make a list of things mythic did to screw the game up, and things they dont do to fix it. (these are ranked in order)
1. The Grind. We all know mmo's have the grind. (most of em) and that's ok. But the introduction of ToA was a mistake. Camping for numerous hours to get a peice of gear that has a 24 hour respawn rate is rediculous, let alone the fact that you have to level the item after you get it. Getting an artifact to level 10 is usually excruciating.
2. Timesinks. Crafting in particular. In order to be a crafter, you have to spend Months on your skill, not to mention insane amounts of money. Mythic keeps adding things that you MUST do in order to stay competitive in the end game, so that they keep you longer, when the content should keep you, not the chore of the timesinks. Things Like Masterlevels, Artifacts, Spellcrafting, all fall into this category.
3. Blatant Hacking/Cheating. Namely RADAR users. People use radar in PVP to see where enemies are. These people roam the frontiers destroying everything in thier path, because they do not fear the suprise attack. What they lack in skill, they make up for in numbers and hacking. Mythic refuses to deal with this, and handed out paltry 1-day bans to a few offenders, then turned a blind eye. If you cant control the cheaters, dont expect people to want to pay for your game. this is the #1 reason i stopped playing Diablo online, and 1 of the 2 reasons i quit daoc. Reason #2 Below.
4. Buffbotting. If you arent going to run 2 pc's and pay for 2 accounts, dont expect to be competitive int he endgame pvp. All the real PVPers use buffbots (2nd account with a buffing class to buff them to the hilt for pvp) These bots sit at portal keeps where you cannot kill them, and if the buffed player dies, he just rebuffs on re-entry. Buffs need to be ranged, so that people who do not have 2 computers, or are not willing to pay for 2 accounts can have a chance. This would solve this problem, but hurt Mythic's profit, so they refuse to balance this. This was the second reason i quit daoc.
5. HORRIBLE customer service. Im not going to go into detail, because most MMO's have bad customer service, and if you have ever had a problem with that game (that didnt prevent mythic from getting their money) they will not help you with that problem. If the problem stops you from paying them, they are on it like a fat kid on a donut.
Now you may wonder why i said this was the best MMO i have played, yet list all these bad things about it. Sadly, imo, this is the best game on the market currently, and if it werent for these 5 problems, I would never have stopped playing this game. Mythic chooses money over quality, which is stupid imo, because if they banned all the radar users, made buffs ranged, yes they may lose some money, but they would make it back and then some with additional people subscribing to what could be the best MMO out there.
---------------------------------
Long Term MMO's Played:
Ultima Online - 3 Years
Dark Age of Camelot - 3 Years
Less Than 1 Month:
Shadowbane, Planetside
Everquest, Ragnarok Online
City of Heroes, Star Wars Galaxies
Horizons, Fung Wan Online
The Sims Online
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| Final Fantasy | Free iPod |
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I agree, DAoC meets most of your criteria, well worth a try. If youre not into PvP, then you wont have to deal with the lame cheaters that infest the game (main reason why I quit).
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Played: AC1, DAoC, E&B, SWG
Tested: AC1, AC2, DAoC, Eve, Planetside, Rubies, Lineage 2, MU Online
I would suggest AO really, has all of that more or less and as far as customer service go, well no game really has a good one but this game prolly has the least bad, or something...
Allthough it is only a 7 day trial and I think over a GB download and might hit the 15$+ mark..
www.anarchy-online.com
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Originally posted by Jerek_
I wonder if you honestly even believe what you type, or if you live in a made up world of facts.
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Well I went to DAoC and WOW! Can I say that's the most cluttered MMORPG site I've laid eyes on. LOL! I think I got a headache just trying to find the simple game overview with character options and screenshots. Helping me to avoidthe immediate download just to get the jist would have been nice of them. LOL! So I wrote the techies asking them to help a dummy out with a direct link to their well hidden "eye catching" page that makes the non-player WANT to become a player.
I certainly appreciate all the helpers out there ppitching in their opinions. That review you wrote, Trebek, is very well done. It's honest and I've taken into account that the only thing I'm frowning at right now is staff concerns and the grinding. The rest I can deal with but grinding is an annoyance to me. I've got kids in my house that consistantly like to interrupt "Mom" just when she's getting to the good part of the game. LOL! So if I'm expected to spend countless hours trying to level something other than myself up just to get anywhere.. it's not gonna happen. Not until I'm 50 and all the kids are grown anyway. LOL! But I'll still give it a check out, pending the techies get back to me...
-=EyeSpy=-
-=Game Reviewer=-
-=EyeSpy=-
-=Game Reviewer=-
Well, the camelot herald is basically for people who play the game, it lists guild info, war stats, patch info, etc. The main camelot page is www.darkageofcamelot.com I think. Also, the camelot Vault that i meantioned earlier has some good info on it, but it is just as cluttered as the herald. Camelot is a very deep MMO, imo. For those who take the time to actually play it, you will see that is has a ton of quests, items, etc to keep you busy.
---------------------------------
Long Term MMO's Played:
Ultima Online - 3 Years
Dark Age of Camelot - 3 Years
Less Than 1 Month:
Shadowbane, Planetside
Everquest, Ragnarok Online
City of Heroes, Star Wars Galaxies
Horizons, Fung Wan Online
The Sims Online
-----------------------------------
| Final Fantasy | Free iPod |
-----------------------------------
Nexon has a couple 2D games that are relatively easy to get into and do not take a lifetime commitment to enjoy: Nexustk (nexustk.com) and Dark Ages (darkages.com). Both games are downloadable; both have a free trial period; you never have to buy expansions and rarely have to download heavy updates. Better still, you don't have to subscribe to the games - you can buy month to month access at $10 a month.
I could write all night about why I think AO is the best MMORPG out there, and why I think you should play it. However I find that if I almost write book on the subject, I seem to loose my point somewhere in the mass of words. Also, yes I understand that you are using a dial up connection so this downldad could take days, but this a MMORPG that you will be playing for days (as in 24hr periods). So the time it takes to download it will be worth it! I'm going to answer your post question by question:
Inexpensive and worth the cost of gaming. (Between $10-$15 a month)$14.95 per month... Or they have a special offer where you pay $9.95 till September 1st. You can find that offer here: http://www.anarchy-online.com/content/downloads/specialoffer/
Fantasy with Magic use involved. I love being a magic user
While this game does not use magic persay. It does use nano technology, basically a swarm of microscopic nano bots surrounds you and does your bidding. Nano technology can be used exactly like magic you see in other games. For a complete list of these nano technologies and what they do please check this link: http://www.aodb.info/nanolist.aspx
Female characters exist. I am NOT a man - I hate running around in games as a man. LOL!
Yes there are female characters in this game and they are completely equal in every aspect.
Lag time is reasonable (not like your in the middle of a battle and *WAM* you're dead because the lag monster bit ya in the but. I have 56K dial up connection - the option for a high speed connection does not exist where I live. So I'm stuck with the snail speed. But I have played a few good games with a minimal lag even at my current speed. So I know it's possible.
I really can't say anything about the lag you might experience because I have a cable modem. However in my experience with settings at max lag has been almost nonexistent.
Quests- I love quests! I especially like quests that get your experience points.
AO is full of quests right from the start. Mission terminals on Rubi-Ki provide randomly generated mission after mission. In the Shadowlands you are presents you with quests in the more traditional manner.
The ability to control your attributes. I like being able to make certain attribute higher than others - pending my own strategy for my character. I really dislike games that take control of this all, disallowing you that freedom.
Every time you gain a level you will be given skill points which you can modify you character with as you please. Also you can use implants and some nano programs to further develop you character.
FRIENDLY & DECENT staffing. I really don't like these games that hire staff that turn into trigger happy idiots and care nothing about answering questions, and resolving game problems. I can't really tell you about the staff. Why because I haven't experienced any problems that have required help from the staff, and because AO has the best community of any MMORPG on the market. I have never had a problem getting any, and I mean any, of my questions answered. I've had people stop whatever they were doing and guide me around and answer questions for over an hour!
Leveling is not an insanely difficult thing to do where you are REQUIRED to have no life just to get to level 2. LOL! I also don't want it to become boring after you get past a certain level.
There are over 200 levels in this game, so as expected leveling will occur quickly after you master the learning curve. People do claim that in the Shadowlands leveling can become very boring and time consuming. However AO provides others places and ways to level, but not near as quickly.
Level is an advantage to your ability to kill monsters/human characters.
Yes, but I think it's like that in every MMORPG.
PK'ing is an option. I don't like being a PK and I don't like being PK'ed when my experience is to play the game to complete it, not to show everyone I'm a Billy bad ars like most of the kids get into the games for.
There are PvP zones with differing levels of PvP (Clan vs Omni, Group vs Group, and Everyone vs Everyone), and you will be warned upon entering one and given the opportunity to leave before someone can attack you.
Graphics is decent - I have NVida (spelling?) Graphics card my husband bought for me. I believe it's 64MB (not spectacular, but good enough). So I can handle some graphics. Although Graphics shouldn't be a reaosn to cause the game to lag.
Graphics are not the best selling point of this game. But they are decent and do not diminish the RP element or the fun factor. You can always take a look at the screenshots on this site.
Prefer non-point & click system set up. Really gets annoying when you have to ? click ? click ? click ? click ? click ? click ? click ? click ? just to walk across the screen. Really liked Fairyland's option to hold the mouse down and you walk where ever you move your mouse (no click after first one).
If you play like me you play like it is a FPS. "W" "A" "S" and "D" keys to move forward, backward and strafe. Hold the right mouse button down to look around and change direction. Spacebar to jump and "0" on the numpad to auto run.
Chat is optional. Sometimes I like to be able to ask for help - especially when staff is around or high level players are around. Other times, I'm so involved in the game - I don't really want to hat much. So I like to turn chat off and on. Got to Actions-> Menus-> Chat and you can filter anything from chat channels to actions during a fight.
Clan is available. I like top join clans when I've gotten frustrated with certain quests and need something else entertaining to do. LOL!
Omin, Omni, and Neutral are the big all encompassing "clans or groups" to witch you belong. You can chat with anyone in you clan anytime to look for groups, shop for items, or just shoot the preverbal $@#&;. Players themselves create their own organizations like a "guild", however I have yet to delve into this aspect of the game.
Really don't like the games that require you to do petty skills like hunt, fish, cook, brew, sew ect.. just to achieve the idea of having armor, potions, weapons and complete certain quests. I mean it's ok to have these things in the game, but don't force meinto taking part in it just to survive the game! If it must be in a game, at least allow the character to be interactive in it, instead of like Fairyland where a bubble appears over your head saying "Working" and you just stare at the screen while waiting for level 30 to come up. LOL! I haven't had to craft anything. However you can make really good money by doing so. Your skills in crafting are raised with the skill points you earn from leveling. So there is none of that try and try again till you can do it. You either have the skill or you don't.
FREE TRIAL of at least 15 days or more!!! This is a must. I will not pay for a game to find out in two days I hate it. Money doesn't grow on trees in my house. So I have not the dough to throw away!
See below...
You only have to download one thing - the game. No expansion packs required, or needed to futher your enjoyment of the game. Especially not one that requires you to pay out more money.
See below...
No CD buying required. Meaning - the game doesn't require you to go to some store somewhere and spend money on the CD and then money is required to be spent on playing the game monthly. Monthly fees are fine, but "starter" fees just to get INTO the game is not OK in my book.
Ok to answer all three questions. Yes there is a free trial but it is only 7-days, and for a game like this you might need more to decide if you are not a dedicated player. AO and both expansions are available for download at http://www.anarchy-online.com/content/downloads/tryout/. Make sure you download the game with the expansions.
A final note: AO does have an extremely high learning curve. But this is actually a good thing. The learning curve eliminates most of the immature, unintelligent, and rude players. This is partially why I think AO has the best community. With these guides http://aovault.ign.com/thegame/guides/and help from the community almost any should be able to easily overcome the learning process.
Does the 9.95 a month deal apply to only new members, or to people that reactivate their account too?
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-EQ1 character:Grotub, shaman of the Tribunal server
It doesnt come out till spring and wont meet all your f$$$ reqs., i.e. you will have to buy before you play, but you can get into the Wish beta and see how you like it. It is going to be very quest based and I think you will like it so start to check it out and sign up for the beta if you think it is for you. Hope you find a good game.
What game are you speaking of?
Wish beta is a neat option to offer. To be honest - all of the options given by the people replying to my post have me going from site to site reading hours of info. LOL! I have like 4 games bookmarked for my husband to look at too when he gets home. I think right now the toss up is in between AO and DAoC. But EQ has had my attention for a while now too. It just sounds intimidating on the "getting into" part. Although I'm a quick learner... I'm hoping EQ won't scare me away. LOL!
Thanks to everyone for their information. You guys have been more than helpful.
Looks like the overall suggested game is AO right now. I suppose a download won't hurt.
-=EyeSpy=-
-=Game Reviewer=-
-=EyeSpy=-
-=Game Reviewer=-
My word! You are the thorough and VERY helpful one! LOL! I think you just sold me on AO without a doubt. Definitely going to be downloading it to check it out. I hope I like it as much as you do. LOL! Very nice! They should hire you on as staff or at least give you a month or two of free game time. That was a pretty convincing review.
Thanks so much!!
-=EyeSpy=-
-=Game Reviewer=-
-=EyeSpy=-
-=Game Reviewer=-
I was indeed talking about Wish, and the beta, and the more I read your reqs. I think it will be a great game for you if you can get past the buying it part.
-=EyeSpy=-
-=Game Reviewer=-
-=EyeSpy=-
-=Game Reviewer=-
XEyeSpyX, everything (and I do mean everything) you just requested can be found with AC2
15 day Free trial... http://www.gamedaily.com/gp/dlexe.asp?packageid=0079500000
Website... http://ac2vault.ign.com/
WISH can be found at www.mutablerealms.com
---------------------------------
Long Term MMO's Played:
Ultima Online - 3 Years
Dark Age of Camelot - 3 Years
Less Than 1 Month:
Shadowbane, Planetside
Everquest, Ragnarok Online
City of Heroes, Star Wars Galaxies
Horizons, Fung Wan Online
The Sims Online
-----------------------------------
| Final Fantasy | Free iPod |
-----------------------------------
If you are going to try AO, I'd really suggest finding the Shadowlands expansion pack, which included the original game. It only costs $10 and is probably worth the money considering the download time at 56k. You also get 30-day trial and you need it with this game. It has a steep learning curve.
AO is a good game but I am not a fan of modern/post-modern mayhem. I prefer midieval fantasy. I want to be a mage, not a nano-technician; a knight, not an enforcer; ride a horse, not drive a car or fly a plane. I also found the servers rather empty (never anyone in pvp areas which was actually a blessing for me since I hate pvp), but newbie emptiness plagues most games that have been out there for a while. As long as you can still get advice and help learning the game, it's all good and I didn't find the community unfriendly.
It's worth a shot
I suggest EVE online, only £8.50 a month ($13 roughly), I think it falls into your criteria, sorry if someone has already mentioned it too but like hell was I sitting here reading 50+ posts LOL. But seriously I advise EVE online, very good game keep you entertained for years.
Check out: www.EVE-online.com
NEO
If you are going to do EvE I would suggest the free trail, I think its on this site in an ad or something. I say this because I personally didnt care for the game, found it to......unlifelike. This was just my experience, you may love it.