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Please help wife and I find "the right game"
Igzidyous
Member Posts: 10
My wife and I have been playing mmorpg's for about 4 years now. We started with EQ, played that for three years, then switched to CoH, and have recently not been playing anything. We are starting to get the itch again.
Things we liked and disliked about EQ and CoH
EQ.
We liked our characters. We felt "connected" to them. I still call my wife by her EQ name occassionally.
We like the community. While we didn't really group a whole lot with other people, we did belong to a guild, albeit a small one, and chat with friends we made.
We liked going on "occassional" raids with huge groups of people, occassional being the operative word here.
We didn't like the grind. When we quit, we were level 63, and that was after playing three years.
We didn't like the fact that you had to spend hours upon hours researching the game just to know how to play, where to go, and how to get there, what weapons and armour we should have, etc.. in other words, keeping up with the Jone's got too tedious.
CoH
We liked pretty much everything except
got way way way too repetitive. Plus, it's gearing itself up for PvP, which my wife and I DO NOT WANT.
OK, so here's what we're looking for in an mmorpg:
no pvp, that's pretty much a must.
advancing through the game doesn't seem like a chore, and doesn't take 6 months to advance a level (we are VERY casual players).
My wife likes the simplicity of CoH, while I prefer a bit more depth, so I guess we would be looking for a game that has a moderate amount of depth, but isn't really required to enjoy the game and still have a feeling of advancement.
graphics are relatively un important, we would prefer to look at cool stuff vs a cartoon.
community must be good. we don't mind playing with 13 year olds, but we hate playing with people whose sole purpose for playing is so they can say "hey look at me, I am uber and you suck" in other words, we're looking for a game with a mature community.
money isn't really an issue. If the game is right we'll pay for it, and we are not opposed to free either lol.
preferably one with no download, IE I can go to best buy and buy it. Downloading a few hundred meg on a dial-up really really sucks,
anyone have any suggestions? besides my wife play CoH and I play EQ2? lol we talked about that and basically decided doing that would defeat the purpose, and that is to find an activity we can do together.
Comments
Well,my wife and i are playing EQ2 and having a ball,but we are coming from a different background.
This is my wife's first MMORPG,and for me i played DAOC for 3 yrs then tried various other ones for 6 months before settling here.I never played the first EQ so i cannot give you a comparison on the grind feel,however we arent grinders,we play a couple of hours a night 4 nights a week and we dont "xp" we just grab quests,explore and run away from scary mobs a lot and we have both managed to get to level17. Compared to DAOC (the only serious comparison i can give) there is no feeling of grind (so far).
Now we are in the UK so when we play (Lucan Dlere server) its not at its busiest,what i mean is during US primetime this game may feel totaly different to the experience we get,but the community feels fantastic because of this,not millions of people everywhere and you get to "see" the same faces about. This also means that most of the 13 yr olds are at school in US,so again this may affect the "fun" factor.
We play on one of the RP servers and i have never RP'd before and my wife has never RP'd at all but it is great fun,i am surprised how much my wife enjoys it tbh.
There you go not any sort of solid answer just an explanation of my experiences with EQ2.
I suggest you two take a look at World of Warcraft, although it does have PvP it's on special servers. As for the rest, this game has pretty much al you are looking for. If you're willing to spend a good amount of time there, it has great depth, but it's learning curve is really simple, especially if you've played other mmorpg's. There are lots and lots and lots of quest to do, the world looks great and it's really great, just exploring the world bit by bit. I feel connected with my character, and I care about what happens to him and the decisions i must make for him. Up to now, I've experienced no grind at all, lvling goes faster than EQ2 I believe, but it it is by no means too fast. I think it's a great game and i think you and your wife could have a seriously good time there. I wish you luck in your quest for a great mmorpg, and i hope i've been of some help.
Everquest 2 or WoW
WoW is a little more casual and more of a less indepth game
Eq2 its going to take quite a bit more effort then WoW to do anything, but much more rewarding, i am level 22 and still haven't felt a chore leveling.
Both are great games, review them yourself and dont trust any opinions, because they are all biased
Calamities are of two kinds: Misfortune to ourselves and good fortune to others
I guess it's better to scout around for a while more so that you can get
a better judgment of what other game developers are going to make for
next year in 2005. It's always good to get into a open or close beta
sessions.. then you can have a go. Unfortunately, most mmorpg are
grinding and that's how the game developers earn bucks $$$. I personally
liked Lineage 2 for the graphics and gameplay... minus the impossibility
of level grinding and item finding. Other games like WoW, it's really
nothing much of a make-up or make-over from warcraft 3. However, it's a
good effort for rpg players. I can't wait for Blizzard to publish World
of Diablo if there is ever going to be one.. cheers.. hope you find a
game that the both of you can enjoy soon.
I know a really good MMORPG it is ............... Kal-Onlone it's a really good game and fun 2 so take a look on www.kalonline.com
EQ2 if you like the EQ1 and did like the comunity its EQ2 for you i say but if you like the TOY like game WOW mybee some thing for you but i think WOW is to much off a toy game!
i whod go for EQ2 mybee SWG whitch i like to!
Let os now what you disade and mybee whitch server you play on if EQ2 (mistmore myself.....)
Well, I do support World of Warcraft above EQ2, however, WoW is going to be bent for PvP and the community.... christ..
So I'd say, keep yer EQ love up and head for the second round
Rest your trigger on my finger.
Played so far: 9Dragons, AO, AC, AC2, CoX, DAoC, DF, DnL, DR, DDO, Ent, EvE, EQ, EQ2, FoMK, FFO, Fury, GW, HG:L, HZ, L1, L2, M59, MU, NC1, NC2, PS, PT, R:O, RF:O, RYL, Ryzom, SL, SB, SW:G, TR, TCoS, MX:O, UO, VG, WAR, WoW...
It all sucked.
Something cool that is going on right now is that lots of older games are offering free trials and downloads of the client. It's a cheap way to experience a game.
I bought EQ2 when it came out and played it for less then a month. I didn't really like the way characters are made. You don't get much say in your character. I was a level 12 Crusader when I quit playing and was just like every other level 12 crusader in the game. It was a very slick game though, and it took no research to figure out what to to do the quest system was very simple.
try wish open beta on jaunuary first sounds real good
We didn't like the grind. When we quit, we were level 63, and that was after playing three years.
If you dont like grinding you shoud avoide eq2. I feelt like I was forced in to grinding even when I dont whanted to. I was realy looking forward to the game but I got realy disappointed.
//jb2K
//jb2K
Why are you guys recomending WoW?? He said NO PVP. In WoW if you are in a contested are with alliance and horde you can get pked.
I would not recomend EQ2 or WoW. EQ2 is a hard game and grinding, so if you dont like that then why play it? I like the game personally but thats cause I kinda like a grind. I think a good game to play would be som ething like DAoC, they dont force you to do PvP, and its a fun game thats not too hard. Although it is a little dated, but he said he does not care about graphics.
EQ2 Qeynos Guild- http://www.imperium-arcanum.com
Ok, a quick question about PVP in WoW;
My wife and I are not PvP'ers. We don't mind an occassional dual, actually kinda makes the game interesting. In wow, does every server have the Alliance vs Horde battle? So that if we happen to wander into the wrong area, we could get PK'ed? If that is the case, then perhaps WoW isn't for us, although after reading up on all the different games, we have been leaning towards it....
also wanted to comment on "the grind". We understand that all MMO's are basically a grind. One of the things that we liked about CoH is that they kept you pretty busy doing missions (quests) while you were leveling. We don't mind "the grind" as long as there is something to do in the meantime. In EQ there was PLENTY to do, too much in fact. That's kinda what I meant when I talked about keeping up with the jones' got to be tedious. We felt like every time a new expansion came out, we were further and further behind "the curve" if you know what I mean. It got to be a bit overwhelming.
I also thought DaoC was all pvp? am I mistaken? I havn't ever even considered it because of that....
PvP servers you are unattackable in your own lands however in contested lands "wich many quests wind up being on"your free game and then theres the Role playing servers wich i think work like normal servers but people rp there toons.
The grind is not to bad levels 1-20 go by pretty quickly the quest system is by far the best way to level and it kind of spoon feeds you the lands that are appropriate to your level. Thats not saying that if you guys want to take off exploring you cant you just might get eaten by a baddy though
The combat is fast paced in wow the crafting is not tedious at all chances to do instanced dungeons with good rewards as well. Only downside IMO is i hate level based games personaly and the character custimization is nowhere near as good as CoH..lol other than that i agree with most others try it out for a month see what yall think.
Hope this helps some.....
What server and Guild were you in in EQ? Just wondering lol. But i suggest EQ2 for now. Its tough with the lack of choices now a-days.
Playing: Vanguard SoH
Played: EQ, Planetside, SWG, WoW, EQ2
Well, WoW is definitely going through some growing pains right now... they expected a success.... just not THIS much of a success. So if ya go with WoW expect some server downtime now and again until they get things running smooth... but let me tell ya something, out of all the mmorpgs I have played, I have NEVER come accross such a dedicated tech team and devs... and something else, Blizzard extended the free 30day trial for the people who had to deal with the outages.. NO OTHER MMORPG has done this.
Ok, thats the downside... the upside. Its evident you like the medieval/tolk erra... well WoW has that. Cartoony graffix must not bother ya to much cuz ya play CoH... so you most likely will love the graffix in WoW... and I have put in "literally" a couple hundred hours in this game and still have not found it repetitive... I played CoH for a month, loved it but got bored.
Id go with WoW, tho your clan might be based on a pvp server so you wanna check into that. If RP is your thing, Ive played on one of the RP servers and seems to be a great bunch of peeps... PVP servers, well lots of punks on em.. but then again its pvp and nothen like killen a punk now is there
... For just normal gaming, you dont wanna rp, but ya dont wanna pvp either... well they have those as well. Oh yeah... 10 characters available per server and last server count I think was 80+... thats 800 potential characters if you were crarzy enough to try it... and thats at no extra cost, unlike some of the other mmo's to date.
Theres a few things I wish they put in that they had said they were going to.. ie, the honor system.. but unfortunately they found that the system was exploitable so they yanked it and are doing a revamp... WoW currently does not support player housing... so if your looking for that, might wanna try DAoC Catacombs.... or SWG (note... I really dislike SWG, but thats just a personal oppinion).
Other then that, rely on your clanmates for some inside details... your lucky to have them playing both EQ2 and WoW... so you can get a jist of both games.
Good luck, and I hope you and yours find the right game for you.
I have to say EQ2 is the way to go. Im having great fun there.
But why not try out Anarchy Online? Its free now so no loss.
I have to say EQ2 for community.
My guild is filled with husband and wife combos.And it is just something that happened not planned.
EQ2 community is very mature and been a brat in EQ2 is counter productive unless u got 4 other accounts and computers
So most people tend to behave themselves even if their nature is to be nasty they have to hide it or they find EQ2 very hard.
If you do decide to pick EQ2 and want a very mature guild to start with email me and i give you details of my server/name/guild. hercules@mmorpg.com
As for EQ2 grind i dunno where that is.Its not super easy neither is it super hard.I been away for nearly 2 weeks so total time i played is 2 weeks and i am a level 32 guardian(50 is max) and 23 armourer.And i have a job too.Many people i used to play with before i travelled are last 30s now (once with jobs) and hardcore ones all in late 40s.
So can't see much of a grind.Heck there are quite a few 50 now on the older servers and mine has a couple of 50 now too.
Note though i am on oasis which is not an original server but pretty filled at prime time and not the best server to start afresh on but i can help you out if you decide on EQ2 and oasis.
My GF and I are EQ veterans and now play EQ2, was also played DAoC for a few years.
EQ2 downside to me is, 4 char slots unless you get their $21-22 plan which gives you 4 more slots, and access to the rest of their game line, EQ1, PlanetSide, ect Which may be the way for you two to go if you still want the occasional EQ1 fix.
Game lags time to time <what game doesn't>
Other than that for me and the significant other the game rocks. We are lvls 19-20, and when she cant play, I get my tradeskills up, so I don't out lvl her. If I can't play I encourage her to, I can always catch up.
I wish you guys luck, a game community benefits imho from gaming couples.
My uber BEST advice... *points left* research your games on the released games section of the forums. After that... there are a lot of games that are giving 7-14 day trial periods to test it out.... it really can't hurt you to try before you buy, especially with a MMORPG.
Repetativeness will always, ALWAYS be a part of a MMORPG. It's what keeps you hooked and keeps ya playing... of course you pry already know this, but having played a lot out there, they all do that in one form or another.
But in reply to the questions...
"no pvp, that's pretty much a must."
Shadowbane is a no-no, Lineage II I believe is also... please correct me if I'm wrong, I only played the beta.
"advancing through the game doesn't seem like a chore, and doesn't take 6 months to advance a level (we are VERY casual players)."
Casual player to MMORPG is like Oil to Water... only mixes if you STIR REALLY FAST! lol... FF:XI isn't for the casual player... I haven't played Anarchy Online in forever but it was good for the casual gamer, City of Heroes but you already played that...
My wife likes the simplicity of CoH, while I prefer a bit more depth, so I guess we would be looking for a game that has a moderate amount of depth, but isn't really required to enjoy the game and still have a feeling of advancement.
I understand about the lack of "meatiness" in CoH... um... can't really think of any except FF:XI... the cutscenes with quests gave a sense of "I'm important and part of the storyline", but again that's a very intense grind/learning curve for a "every now and then" gamer.
graphics are relatively un important, we would prefer to look at cool stuff vs a cartoon.
community must be good. we don't mind playing with 13 year olds, but we hate playing with people whose sole purpose for playing is so they can say "hey look at me, I am uber and you suck" in other words, we're looking for a game with a mature community.
If you FIND one let me know lol... CoH was as close as that got.
money isn't really an issue. If the game is right we'll pay for it, and we are not opposed to free either lol.
preferably one with no download, IE I can go to best buy and buy it. Downloading a few hundred meg on a dial-up really really sucks,
Most of your mainstream MMORPG's are buyable at best buy, ebgames, gamestop, wal-mart, ect. But I'd strongly suggest the "trial period" games to get a feel for them if you can. We can post/rant/flame all day long, but only you know what you like and what you don't. *shrugs*
And if anything... sign up for beta testing upcomming games. Guild Wars is worth a try.
I wish you luck in your search, I've done a lot of "settling" as far as MMORPG's go and I'm still looking, hopefully you find "The right one"! ^_^
"There is only one thing of which I am certain, and that's nothing is certain."
"There is only one thing of which I am certain, and that's nothing is certain."
This is not a flame, but a serious question... you say WoW is shallow, well simple and lacking depth... what in EQ2 brings depth? Serious question, as I have never played EQ2 and I am curious. About the WoW pvp thing, if ya dont care for pvp go to a RP or Normal server... its very very very simple to do that.. and there is a great, mature community on the RP server I have characters on... Sometimes yer in the mood to kick some ass... ya jump on the pvp server, sometimes ya just want some good convo with cool mature peeps.. ya log on your rp server.
If you can give me some strong points of how EQ2 has depth, and something WoW doesnt... I would appreciate it. Hell, ya might even convince me to drop a 50 and give it a shot... but right now, WoW is the best mmo Ive played to date.
I would say that the 2 very best MMORPG's out there right now are EQ2 and WoW.
Since WoW won gamespots game of the year award for 2004 I would read their review if you have the time as it was written by adults who do nothing but write game reviews for a living. (man I wish I had that job lol) That review sums up most of how I currently feel about the state of the game. You can read it here:
http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/bestof2004/day6w_2.html
If you are not into the "grind" then I would choose WoW over EQ2. I work for a living so I can not play all the time (although I am off for 2 weeks woot!) I can login to WoW and do a quest and then log off and have some fun doing it even if its only for an hour or so. My wife never liked these games although she did barely tolerate my EQ addiction lol. She not only tolerates WoW, we got a 2nd account for her and its the 1st MMORPG she has ever played and she actually likes it. I think it was Santa Claus being in one of the main cities and the fact that I turned into a snowman that got her interested but hey I am not complaining.
Now to lessen when you have to PvP (meaning to make it almost always on your terms) of course do not play on the PvP servers and in addition I would play on one of the green Role Playing Servers. They have without a doubt the most mature communities of all the servers and are non-pvp.
If you are wanting a Game where you don't have to "WORK" to have fun I would totally avoid both EQ2 and WoW. If you want also away from the grind and typical MMO stuff and want to play in a world where there is story, involvement and where one has importance I would check out WISH and Mourning. Mouring will be out in a few months or you can try to get in the final beta. But WISH will be in open beta which I would sign up before December 31st when the sign up closes. WISH does has little PvP, but it has purpose nlike the random killing of other MMO's. Mourning will be more of PVP but it will be somewhat like DAoC, however it has certain features of perma death.
Anyway, from reading your whole post. I would strongly suggest getting involved in WISH. I think you will find what you are looking for plus a larger community of mature players.
www.mutablerealms.com
I believe you and your wife will find your calling there and will enjoy the role you will play.