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Desperately seeking new MMO to call home
Only fifty posts like this a day, eh? Here's what I've played (in no particular order after WoW):
Ultima Online, Star Wars: Galaxies, World of Warcraft, Everquest 2, Lineage 2, Perfect World International, Lord of the Rings Online, City of Heroes/Villains, Ryzom, Final Fantasy XI, Runes of Magic, EVE Online, Guild Wars, D&D Online, and a couple others I've probably forgotten by now.
Here's what I'm looking for:
1. A use-based skill progression, like UO, Ryzom and Pre-CU Galaxies.
2. Fluid controls and animations, like Ryzom, WoW, CoX, etc.
3. A friendly, intelligent and supportive player community, preferably with actual role-playing.
4. Something that's engaging without dominating every last second of my life.
5. Interesting but not overwhelmingly complex crafting.
6. Preferably sci-fi rather than fantasy.
#3 is critical to me, and I'm starting to doubt it exists.
#4 is also critical, since I have limited play time (2-3 hours a day tops).
The first two are self-explanatory. I don't need "Oh my god that's amazing!" graphics, but I expect a certain level of smoothness to animations these days. And I'm just sick and tired of being shoe-horned into pre-defined character classes and progressions.
#6 is not critical, but I am starting to get a little sick of the high-fantasy meme.
So...is it time for me to give up? Or is there something out there I've overlooked. Does anyone know of a game that fits these criteria, or am I SOL?
Comments
Hope you have the best of luck I also looking for something similar to what you have described, although i would not have included mention of roleplaying. As of yet not really found anything close.
The only MMO I think is worth playing right now is DDO. It doesn't have skill based progression, but it doesn't have a linear path for you to follow, at all, when making a class. With the ability to incorporate 3 classes into one character means that you can have near infinite combinations. You can go on the forums and just look at the class discussion thread and you will see characters that play so much differently than any mainstream game its outstanding.
DDO's graphics are really nice also. It doesn't take long at all to reach the 'end game' content. If you're going 2-3 hours a day, I'd say about a month in you'd be very familiar with the game and having a lot of fun in the end game. It has a great LFG system, better than any I've seen in any other MMO. The community in DDO is incredible. This is due to the relatively moderately sized player base. This makes the server you're on feel like your home. You group with a lot of people. and remember them too. The built in comms system makes players get to know eachother much better than just typing.
The crafting in DDO right now isn't anything to show for. Currently, there is a raid, The Shroud, that holds all the crafting. You gain ingridients along the way and once you've got what you need, you head to a special device and form incredibly powerful (but not too powerful) weapons. Later on, Turbine will add these devices and ingredients for almost all level ranges.
All in all it is a great game. The two things that will keep people from playing are instanced gameplay and there are not always groups up. With the introduction of heirlings, it kind of makes it easier to solo, but this is a team based game. The instanced gameplay makes the game what it is. Without it, it would be very difficult to build the dungeons Turbine does with all the traps and twists and turns in an open world environment. Not to mention you'd have people crawling up in your dungeon and it really would just ruin the game completely.
Give it a shot when Module 9 comes out, it increases the cap to level 20. Maybe download the trial now. And get out of Korthos before you make any judgements, many just see that and don't really like the lack of everything there.
Good luck on your hunt, hope I helped a little.
Maybe you've subconciously realized that MMORPGs are not for you?
Gb2WoW if any of those other games didnt impress you ... and serious /facepalm if they actualy didnt.
Except for number 6 it sounds like you want to play Ryzom lol........Have you tried Anarchy Online?? Its sci fi and you dont need alot of time to play it if you do missions.......Its an older game with dated graphics but offers good character development and skill system......Crafting is fairly challenging and takes time to learn but once you learn it is very rewarding.....AO is free to play also, unless you want to get the expansions.
Omimace: If I find one, I'll let you know. :-D
Murdus: I tried DDO at beta and after launch, and found it a lot like WoW...very pretty, and utterly unsatisfying. I like instances, but not as a steady diet.
Lyngton & demolishIX: Thank you both for your unhelpful replies. In point of fact, I love MMOs, I think they're a wonderful idea. And I've found something impressive about every game I've played. But since the NGE hit in Galaxies (I was a Master Creature Handler/Combat Medic/Carbineer, so you can imagine my feelings about the current state of THAT game), I haven't been able to find a game which gave a satisfyingly broad gaming experience. Everything these days appears to be based on the WoW principle: Grind, Raid/Instance, Rinse & Repeat. Which is fun at first, but very quickly gets boring and...for someone like me who has limited play time...extremely frustrating.
Theocritus: I've tried Ryzom twice, extensively on both occasions, playing through the starter area and onto the mainland. I found the starter area very enjoyable...just enough guidance to feel like I'm progressing in some way, just enough killing to be entertaining, just enough harvesting to satisfy the crafter in me. Ryzom's crafting system is unparalleled, and I love the Stanza-based combat system. But both times the game has dropped dead as soon as I hit the mainland. I keep hearing about Ryzom's amazing player community...but I've never seen any evidence of it in the game. I arrive...and there's nobody around to talk to, no guilds recruiting while I'm on, it's like a wasteland. And that environment stays fun to play in for about five minutes.
Don't get me wrong...I love sandbox games. I prefer them. Helping to build the setting is exciting. And Ryzom is absolutely the most impressive sandbox I've ever seen...but it's a rather empty one, at least from what I've seen.
If you found DDO to be like WoW... you weren't playing the same game I am.
Simply put, DDO is completely group based with team work required gameplay. WoW might as well be solo based and very narrow team play.
How those two games play / feel anything alike... you've got me there.
Constant endless instancing.
I honestly prefer a game with wide open spaces and exploration, random encounters...you know, ways to meet people without having to shout "LFG for [x]!" every five minutes all evening.
DDO...at least the last time I played it, which was - granted - about a year ago now...is nothing but one dungeon (instance) crawl after another. It gets monotonous fast for me, and when I have to spend half of my play-time trying to find a group and waiting for everybody to be ready to go...that's not a good game experience.