Best: Anarchy Online, or just about any hard to get into closed alpha/beta ( no i dont mean a win a key giveaway or fileplanet closed beta. I mean the kind where you have to know someone or get extra fricken lucky to get in)
Worst: WoW or just about any f2p game - they are about even.
Best: DDO. Back when I played, the community seemed to be comprised of more mature players who remember playing (or still play) the pen and paper game.
Worst: I'm tempted to say WOW (I love the game but won't play because of the kiddies) but I have to say the worst is Lineage 2. That game is virtually unplayable because of the community. I was excited when it first came out but soon realized that I couldn't leave town without getting ganked by someone 15 levels higher than me.
Best for me would be FFXI, it really was trully the fist mmo I played and learned alot from the people playing there had some great fun and made some good friends.
And vanilla WoW, guess I was lucky there ended up in a great guild with great friends and we did raid but epics and loot never ever drove us in that game to keep playing it was haning out with great people. And before the cross realms battlegrounds BS you knew your whole server that was your community anything you did was going to stick with you. If you were camping gy then you better belive it was going to follow you and people would give you sh*t about it.
Recently LOTR has been a great game for me so far community is mature and helpful liking it so far
Worst- WoW (anyone else seeing a trend here) after the expansions once they killed the 40 man raid my old guild was pretty much done and I was introduced to a whole new breed of players and asshats they all had the ME ME ME additude and really it killed the game for me and it just seems like its gotten worse since lich king mindless daylies,loot whores, and eliteism run rampant in that game now. Granted there may still be some really cool laid back guilds there just havent found them because theres just so many servers and its just not worth the stress and time to look for one in that game anymore. And I still think arenas are the worst pvp idea ever (god damnit i want my BG pvp rank to mean something again)
AoC PVP servers- I've posted on this one before I'm no pvp noob and can hold my own in an equal level(up to 3-4lvls higher) toon match but when level 50s have to camp level 20's for hours on end just for shear enjoyment of it it goes a little to far. Not only that you can see the additude of the players in chat and never have i wished for a device so badly where it would allow me to reach through my monotor and strangle these little bastards till they stopped moving (>,,,<) (sorry just really had some bad experiances on that game)
I could keep going on cause like a lot of people I've been jumping from mmo to mmo to try to find that game that will suck me in again (heres hoping aion is awsome) but those are the ones that really stick out.
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe." Albert Einstein
Best - City of Heroes, Virtue Server. From the launch forward City of Heroes stands out probably because in the beginning it didn't have anything in the way of loot or an economy, so there wasn't any focal point for drama. Even now since the introduction of loot and an economy the butthead quotient is very low.
Worst - Warhamer just because there really wasn't a community. Just a bunch of people pushing to get to max level so they could try and take on the world with their little group. WoW community wasn't brilliant but at least you could turn it off by turning of the chat channels. WoW wasn't really an MMO in my eyes. It was an RPG/FPS with optional community content.
Honorable mention in both catagories - Dark Age of Camelot. Dark Age was my first MMO and the one I played the longest. From release to the Tragedy of Atlantis expansion it was a very good and tight community. After ToA the community disappeared and it became all about "8 Mans" vs. "Zergers" and that great community turned on itself and ate itself. The community went from open and friendly to insular, bitter and peevish. Then those same insular, bitter and peevish gamers went to Warhammer are started bitching when Warhammer wasn't DAoC2. Warhammer's community never really had a chance. And they're going to flame this post because I have dared to insult the Almighty Dark Age of Camelot.
Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.
Best- RYZOM, one of the mysteries of this game is how they managed to maintain such an excellent and friendly community, this is very rare in a sandbox mmorpg.
Worst- DARKFALL, game mechanics brings out the worst in this community ... cheating, macroing, exploiting and hacking mixture runs rampant in this game. Just to many jerks here to even want to stick around waiting for updates to improve the game itself. Lots of potential, unfortunately the playerbase almost seems to want to drive folks away.
you know i wish i had tried DAOC back in its prime almost everyone I know played it and says it was bad ass still kick my self for that one
Yes it was an experience i ll never forget. The downside for me anyways is I compare every game to it, and all have failed in one aspect or another to it. That said there are alot of good games to be had, just none for me that has that I can t wait till I get home to play feeling.
WoW/Lotro- First off before people start saying "OMG WOW"S COMMUNITY IS TERRIBLE" let me say this. Trade chat does is not a basis for a community. There are a good 10 people on every server who spam trade with nonesense and you could easily turn it off. Lotro had the same feel except people don't abuse the global chats.
Worst would be most free to play mmo's and Darkfall but i rather not go into that one.
My BEST: Istaria and EQ1. The community in Istaria is outstanding-- better than the game, unfortunately. I played for a few months last year, and it was the community that I was there for.
I played EQ1 off and on (more on than off) up until very recently, and while the community has its bad moments and elitism runs rampant in some parts, it is still easier to make new friends in EQ1 than in virtually any other game I've played. People just seem more open to taking a chance on someone new and they remember who you were later, too. If you ask a question, you might get 6 smart aleks that answer first, but someone will give you the real answer sooner or later.
EDIT: I wanted to add that when I was playing Lineage 2 last year, I found that an outstanding community there, as well, and people are really willing to go out of their way to help you if you're new. On the other hand, it is a PVP game, so if you can't take being killed randomly every once in a while, you might feel differently.
My WORST: I know that this is an unusual experience, or so I gather from what other people post, but my worst community experiences were in EQ2. Last time I subscribed to EQ2, I thought I was going to be in for the long haul, but it was the community that drove me away. It can be perfectly nice sometimes, but when the venom gets going, it's downright mean and nasty. I wasn't even involved in most of those conversations, but they still bothered me a lot. And whereas you might get 6 smart remarks and then an answer in EQ1, you just get 7 smart remarks in EQ2. People run around in low levels and never even speak to each other. It's a good game and I have no doubt that other people experience the community differently, but I couldn't seem to find my place in that community. My advice if you decide to start EQ2 is to avoid the Level 1-9 channel.
EDIT: I read the last page, and I am surprised that other people also mention EQ2 as the worst. Maybe it isn't just me. (LOL)
WoW seems to be mentioned a lot. I thought WoW was about average for the MMOs I've played, neither the best nor the worst-- having played on a few different servers, I thought the horde side of Perenolde was downright civilized when I was playing. Other servers had a lot of stupidity in General, but nothing I couldn't shake off. *shrug* ... WoW is what I expect going into any game these days.
... This is where I draw the line: __________________.
Worst for me, and I know its a cliche, was WOW full of arsehats, its where I learned the term. Though I enjoyed the game for the time I played I met more unfriendly, unhelpful and impolite people in that game than any of the subsequent 10 MMO's I have played except one and thats Darkfall I quite liked the game but found the community to be the complete opposite.
Best for me is my current home DDO the guys and gals in Eberron are helpful, funny, polite and patient though I have to give a mention to the crowds in EQ2 & Vanguard nice places to hang out. I'm also trying out FFXI and everyone seems cool there too.
Cal...
This doom and gloom thread was brought to you by Chin Up the new ultra high caffeine soft drink for gamers who just need that boost of happiness after a long forum session.
FFXI is by far has the best community. Just about everyone is so helpful and fun to group with.
WoW is by far the worst. Too many immature peple play this game. Though I admit I grouped with some nice people at times but those are hard to come by in this game.
Ragnarok Online was probably my best social community experience, granted there wasn't much partying as I never got around to doing that kind of stuff, but socially 95% of the community was friendly, helpful and selfless.
That being said, I have played pretty much all of the MMO's on the market with the exception of the Everquest series, and I would have to say my worst community experience would have to be in WoW, there was people to group with, people to talk with, but most of the time I ended up turning off my general chat so I wouldn't have to read stupid shit. I had played WoW since release and up until about March/April of this month, so I have experience quite a flow of people in and out of the game.
EVE's community is my favorite. I'm a nerd. Even those people with whom I agree on nothing are stimulating to interact with.
I suspect that WoW's is the worst, but I never really played it enough to feel like I have any business saying so. Of MMOs I've played thoroughly enough to really know, I'd say Age of Conan.
Favorites: EQ, EVE | Playing: None. Mostly VR and strategy | Anticipating: CU, Pantheon
Comments
Best: classic EQ
Worst: EQ2
Best: Anarchy Online, or just about any hard to get into closed alpha/beta ( no i dont mean a win a key giveaway or fileplanet closed beta. I mean the kind where you have to know someone or get extra fricken lucky to get in)
Worst: WoW or just about any f2p game - they are about even.
best- darkfall
worst - lotro
Best: DDO. Back when I played, the community seemed to be comprised of more mature players who remember playing (or still play) the pen and paper game.
Worst: I'm tempted to say WOW (I love the game but won't play because of the kiddies) but I have to say the worst is Lineage 2. That game is virtually unplayable because of the community. I was excited when it first came out but soon realized that I couldn't leave town without getting ganked by someone 15 levels higher than me.
Best - UO and Shadowbane (First two years)
Worst - WoW
Best for me would be FFXI, it really was trully the fist mmo I played and learned alot from the people playing there had some great fun and made some good friends.
And vanilla WoW, guess I was lucky there ended up in a great guild with great friends and we did raid but epics and loot never ever drove us in that game to keep playing it was haning out with great people. And before the cross realms battlegrounds BS you knew your whole server that was your community anything you did was going to stick with you. If you were camping gy then you better belive it was going to follow you and people would give you sh*t about it.
Recently LOTR has been a great game for me so far community is mature and helpful liking it so far
Worst- WoW (anyone else seeing a trend here) after the expansions once they killed the 40 man raid my old guild was pretty much done and I was introduced to a whole new breed of players and asshats they all had the ME ME ME additude and really it killed the game for me and it just seems like its gotten worse since lich king mindless daylies,loot whores, and eliteism run rampant in that game now. Granted there may still be some really cool laid back guilds there just havent found them because theres just so many servers and its just not worth the stress and time to look for one in that game anymore. And I still think arenas are the worst pvp idea ever (god damnit i want my BG pvp rank to mean something again)
AoC PVP servers- I've posted on this one before I'm no pvp noob and can hold my own in an equal level(up to 3-4lvls higher) toon match but when level 50s have to camp level 20's for hours on end just for shear enjoyment of it it goes a little to far. Not only that you can see the additude of the players in chat and never have i wished for a device so badly where it would allow me to reach through my monotor and strangle these little bastards till they stopped moving (>,,,<) (sorry just really had some bad experiances on that game)
I could keep going on cause like a lot of people I've been jumping from mmo to mmo to try to find that game that will suck me in again (heres hoping aion is awsome) but those are the ones that really stick out.
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe." Albert Einstein
Best - City of Heroes, Virtue Server. From the launch forward City of Heroes stands out probably because in the beginning it didn't have anything in the way of loot or an economy, so there wasn't any focal point for drama. Even now since the introduction of loot and an economy the butthead quotient is very low.
Worst - Warhamer just because there really wasn't a community. Just a bunch of people pushing to get to max level so they could try and take on the world with their little group. WoW community wasn't brilliant but at least you could turn it off by turning of the chat channels. WoW wasn't really an MMO in my eyes. It was an RPG/FPS with optional community content.
Honorable mention in both catagories - Dark Age of Camelot. Dark Age was my first MMO and the one I played the longest. From release to the Tragedy of Atlantis expansion it was a very good and tight community. After ToA the community disappeared and it became all about "8 Mans" vs. "Zergers" and that great community turned on itself and ate itself. The community went from open and friendly to insular, bitter and peevish. Then those same insular, bitter and peevish gamers went to Warhammer are started bitching when Warhammer wasn't DAoC2. Warhammer's community never really had a chance. And they're going to flame this post because I have dared to insult the Almighty Dark Age of Camelot.
Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.
Best-DAOC back in it s prime. Never seen a more passionate and helpful community.
Worst-Darkfall. Easily the most rude, foul mouthed, asshats in general I ve seen.
Best- RYZOM, one of the mysteries of this game is how they managed to maintain such an excellent and friendly community, this is very rare in a sandbox mmorpg.
Worst- DARKFALL, game mechanics brings out the worst in this community ... cheating, macroing, exploiting and hacking mixture runs rampant in this game. Just to many jerks here to even want to stick around waiting for updates to improve the game itself. Lots of potential, unfortunately the playerbase almost seems to want to drive folks away.
you know i wish i had tried DAOC back in its prime almost everyone I know played it and says it was bad ass still kick my self for that one
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe." Albert Einstein
I was going to say the same except my server was Rallos Zek....
That Guild Wars 2 login screen knocked up my wife. Must be the second coming!
This is the proof that LotrO have the best community of all MMOs, enough said
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
Best - Planetside
Worst -Eve Online
Trolls = Hardcore
Fanbois = Carebears
The only posts I read in threads are my own.
Yes it was an experience i ll never forget. The downside for me anyways is I compare every game to it, and all have failed in one aspect or another to it. That said there are alot of good games to be had, just none for me that has that I can t wait till I get home to play feeling.
WoW/Lotro- First off before people start saying "OMG WOW"S COMMUNITY IS TERRIBLE" let me say this. Trade chat does is not a basis for a community. There are a good 10 people on every server who spam trade with nonesense and you could easily turn it off. Lotro had the same feel except people don't abuse the global chats.
Worst would be most free to play mmo's and Darkfall but i rather not go into that one.
Best: FF XI of course, Ryzom and Atlantica Online.
Worst: Guild Wars. Love this game but the community is really awful.
Best: Ryzom and Istaria...I truly enjoy these games and a large part is because of the community
Worst: some of the F2P communities were the only ones that ever bothered me (but Im not an MMO whore...Ive only played a handful of games)
I AM like the wind!
My BEST: Istaria and EQ1. The community in Istaria is outstanding-- better than the game, unfortunately. I played for a few months last year, and it was the community that I was there for.
I played EQ1 off and on (more on than off) up until very recently, and while the community has its bad moments and elitism runs rampant in some parts, it is still easier to make new friends in EQ1 than in virtually any other game I've played. People just seem more open to taking a chance on someone new and they remember who you were later, too. If you ask a question, you might get 6 smart aleks that answer first, but someone will give you the real answer sooner or later.
EDIT: I wanted to add that when I was playing Lineage 2 last year, I found that an outstanding community there, as well, and people are really willing to go out of their way to help you if you're new. On the other hand, it is a PVP game, so if you can't take being killed randomly every once in a while, you might feel differently.
My WORST: I know that this is an unusual experience, or so I gather from what other people post, but my worst community experiences were in EQ2. Last time I subscribed to EQ2, I thought I was going to be in for the long haul, but it was the community that drove me away. It can be perfectly nice sometimes, but when the venom gets going, it's downright mean and nasty. I wasn't even involved in most of those conversations, but they still bothered me a lot. And whereas you might get 6 smart remarks and then an answer in EQ1, you just get 7 smart remarks in EQ2. People run around in low levels and never even speak to each other. It's a good game and I have no doubt that other people experience the community differently, but I couldn't seem to find my place in that community. My advice if you decide to start EQ2 is to avoid the Level 1-9 channel.
EDIT: I read the last page, and I am surprised that other people also mention EQ2 as the worst. Maybe it isn't just me. (LOL)
WoW seems to be mentioned a lot. I thought WoW was about average for the MMOs I've played, neither the best nor the worst-- having played on a few different servers, I thought the horde side of Perenolde was downright civilized when I was playing. Other servers had a lot of stupidity in General, but nothing I couldn't shake off. *shrug* ... WoW is what I expect going into any game these days.
...
This is where I draw the line: __________________.
Worst for me, and I know its a cliche, was WOW full of arsehats, its where I learned the term. Though I enjoyed the game for the time I played I met more unfriendly, unhelpful and impolite people in that game than any of the subsequent 10 MMO's I have played except one and thats Darkfall I quite liked the game but found the community to be the complete opposite.
Best for me is my current home DDO the guys and gals in Eberron are helpful, funny, polite and patient though I have to give a mention to the crowds in EQ2 & Vanguard nice places to hang out. I'm also trying out FFXI and everyone seems cool there too.
Cal...
This doom and gloom thread was brought to you by Chin Up the new ultra high caffeine soft drink for gamers who just need that boost of happiness after a long forum session.
Best: LotRO
Worst: WoW
Fight my brute!
http://genion.mybrute.com
FFXI is by far has the best community. Just about everyone is so helpful and fun to group with.
WoW is by far the worst. Too many immature peple play this game. Though I admit I grouped with some nice people at times but those are hard to come by in this game.
Ragnarok Online was probably my best social community experience, granted there wasn't much partying as I never got around to doing that kind of stuff, but socially 95% of the community was friendly, helpful and selfless.
That being said, I have played pretty much all of the MMO's on the market with the exception of the Everquest series, and I would have to say my worst community experience would have to be in WoW, there was people to group with, people to talk with, but most of the time I ended up turning off my general chat so I wouldn't have to read stupid shit. I had played WoW since release and up until about March/April of this month, so I have experience quite a flow of people in and out of the game.
EVE's community is my favorite. I'm a nerd. Even those people with whom I agree on nothing are stimulating to interact with.
I suspect that WoW's is the worst, but I never really played it enough to feel like I have any business saying so. Of MMOs I've played thoroughly enough to really know, I'd say Age of Conan.
Best EQ2
Worst AoC
Edit:forgot about EVE, EVE is up there with best
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