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Looking for upcoming 'EQ-like' MMOs
Hi all, I've been looking for a new MMO for awhile and have been overwhelmed by the sheer number that have been coming out recently. I started back in the Ultima Online days and there wasn't nearly as much to choose from. What I would like is a PvE focused game with a good community and challenging gameplay. I played EQ1 for about 6 years and have been looking for something similar to that. From what I hear, those days are gone and WoW has essentially destroyed the chance of a game like that being developed by forcing developers to go the "no risk / massive rewards" route.
Can anyone recommend an upcoming game that might come close to the style of mmo that I'm looking for? There are so many these days that I'm not even sure where to start. It seems like everything is either a WoW clone or hardcore PvP (or both).
For reference, here are the games I've subscribed to:
Everquest (favorite), Final Fantasy XI (second favorite), Everquest 2, Vanguard, City of Heroes, Ultima Online.
Thanks!
Comments
As you have deduced, I think the games with the "hard-core" playstyle are a thing of the past. I too played EQ 1 for about 4 years and began wandering as the MMO offerings began to expand. My first excursion from EQ was to Dark Age of Camelot. Not a bad game, especially if you like RvR PvP.
I also note the absence of WoW on your played list. If you've never played it, I think you need to at least check it out to see what all the hullabaloo is about. It's not a bad game, although it does get boring at end game if you're not in a raiding guild or into alts. If nothing else, it's a great time-killer while waiting for the MMO explosion we'll be seeing later this year.
Thanks for the reply Gonodar!
At one point I thought Vanguard would be the new EQ. I spent a full year in beta and then played release all the way up until SoE purchased Sigil and laid off most of the development team. Unfortunately they just tried to put too much into that game for the amount of time they had to develop it.
I never tried WoW just because I had a hard time convincing myself to purchase a game I knew I would probably be finished with before my free trial was even up. I'm sure it seems fun when you first get started, but without that attachment I get to my characters from a decent risk/reward system, I doubt it would hold my attention for long.
I even considered going back to EQ2, but it was too hard to overcome the bitterness that game left me with. Returned to FFXI on three separate occasions, but the servers have been around so long that the item economy has lost its appeal to me.
That's why I was hoping there might be something new on the horizon that would be more in line with the types of MMOs I enjoyed in the past. I don't really consider myself hardcore, but the developers efforts to remove all possible sources of frustration in their games have left them feeling shallow and pointless to me. It looks like I"ll have no choice but to give in or retire from MMO's though, and that makes me a little sad.
My game history is about the same as yours is and I really enjoyed WoW for a number of years, still do on the occasions I resubscribe. Playing the game 1-60 brought back a lot of those exploring type moments from old EQ. As long as you don't just turn the game play off and grind to max level you will most likely really enjoy it. The dungeons are a lot of fun too if you can find groups, but that is harder since the population it top heavy.
The end game despite what most say is very fun. Plenty of dungeons then the same dungeons are a more difficult setting, some small and large raids, PvP, etc etc.
The problems are the content is easy to consume if you are a hardcore player and the community can be ugly at times, but there are plenty of good people to play with. I suggest if you do try the game play on the horde side and pick a RP server, even a PvP=RP server if you go that route. The RP servers I've played on have been very serious gamers and not actually about role playing.
Other than that I think you are out of luck. I wish I had a better answer for you.
OP. You my friend are sadly out of luck, nothing like EQ1 on the horizon and VG pretty much put a nail in the coffin in that style of game for now.
Who the hell are you, and why should I care?
Congrats! You are a victim of Trollstar!
I'd love to play a new MMO from SE, I wish there was more information about it. A sequal to FFXI would be perfect even though I know they've denied it. I guess until then I'll have to forget about playing an MMO for awhile.
I'm fairly certain WoW isn't for me. I've had friends play through that and quit already, and I heard semi-recently that the game was patched to make leveling even easier than it was before. I experienced the way EQ2 went when SoE tried to emulate Blizzard's success, and it ruined the game for me.
I'd try Vanguard. Ignore the wowboy posts about "Vanguard is full of bugs", its the best game for an old EQ lover
No stupid instancing, good fights. Look at http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/thread/162314 if you like it
Nibbley,
I would give Lord of the Rings Online a try. There is a free trial, so nothing to loose if you don't like it. If you do like, buy the retail package and add the product onto your trial account, and you don't loose any characters you started already.
I played the original EQ for 5 years (Starting with the Kunark expansion) and have not really been satisfied with any other MMORPG since, until I started beta testing LOTRO.
The community is great, the quests are fun if you like lore, and there are definitely challenges along the way.
And as I said, the trial is free so nothing to loose but a little time checking it out.
Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.
J. R. R. Tolkien
I liked the competitive PvE raiding aspects of EQ. For me, there was no better feeling than mobilizing and killing things faster than the competition - so they couldn't get a shot at it
. If you played for the same reason, there's no game coming out to fill that need.
But if you liked EQ for group grinding, just obtaining gear, or figuring out new raid encounters - there's a ton of games out there where you can do that with far more interactive gameplay than EQ ever had. WoW and EQ2 have the best raid and group content out there at the moment, imo. But they've both gone with heavy instancing, so if you enjoy competition you're going to have to pretend that it exists.