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After Anarchy Online?
OK, I've played a number of MMO's now, but Anarchy Online is still my favorite. I know many other players have moved on from Anarchy, so where have you all gone? Please, feel free to make suggestions even if you haven't pIayed Anarchy Online. (TL;DR version below)
I still think Anarchy is a great game, but I've tried to make a comeback several times now without any real success. I'm simply burnt out on the game and need something new. Specifically, I loved planning complicated twinks, the unique role of each profession, and the ability to be extremely creative in designing each character. Being able to think "outside the box" and design a unique character that wasn't grossly underpowered always intrigued me. I also liked that PvP was available (Tarasque, Battle Stations, Towers, etc.), but if I simply wasn't in the mood, I could go do PvE instead. I really liked the way the interface was customizable with the ability to create custom action bars and chat windows and send specific channels to each window. The chat interface is less important than the gameplay, but it's definitely still a factor for me.
Below are two of the other MMO's I have played and the reasons I quit:
EVE Online - great game design with the best ingame economy I've seen yet, but every system looks more or less the same. I really enjoyed a lot of the game, but EVE really doesn't work well for relaxing after a long day at work since you always have to be alert for hostiles. I'd prefer a game where I can play hard if I want or just relax if I'm really exhausted.
Perfect World International - decent game that is very visually appealing, but this is the game where I learned that I dislike the item mall model. "Whoever spends the most cash wins" just doesn't settle really well with me. Honestly, if just feels too much like a scam to me. I'm happy for the people who like item malls, but it's definitely not for me. The chat interface was also lacking, making it difficult to have more than one conversation at a time. I did enjoy the GvG battles, but not enough to keep me playing.
TL;DR version: I want an MMO with no item mall, PvP available but not forced upon me so I can still play when I'm exhausted after a long day at work, and the ability to be at least somewhat creative in designing my character (i.e. not forced into a cookie-cutter design). GvG or RvR area conquest is a plus, as is a good chat interface (customizable if possible). A decent crafting system is a bonus, but less important.
Comments
Anyone out there, or am I playing the single-player version of this thread?
Man I know where you are coming from, nothing can match the fun I had in AO, planning out implants to sqweez in that last point needed for a weapon or armor, actually playing a role super vital or needed in groups IE: bureaucrat "my main back then" .
Sadly no other MMO seams to have come close to that.
I hate to bring WoW into the mix but it's a mmo where you know work has been put into it and the formula is obviously successful. Plus the new Xpansion coming really makes wow into Wow2 (they are reworking every zone in the original release with new quests and items<--I assume.
On the other hand Lotro offers an interesting gameplay experience.
Stay away from simple char setup games like Korean grinders, I'll get flamed for this one but AION is a simple char setup game
Basically try out some 14 day trials, see what you think... chances are you've probably already done so
Have you researched Earthrise? Its basically Anarchy online 2.0 mixed with elements of Eve. It will have non-pvp areas so you wont be ganked 24/7.
Check it out.
PLaying: EvE, Ryzom
Waiting For: Earthrise, Perpetuum
Well I really do not know what to say, after Anarchy it is difficult to point in other game, simply cause there is not anything simmilar. Tabula Rasa was good, but people did not liked it (at least not enought). Maybe you should give this ones a spin:
1. Guild Wars
2. Lord of the rings online
Or hold on and wait until Star trek online or Star wars hit the shelf.
Have you checked out Fallen Earth? Haven´t played AO myself so I have no idea how similiar it is but you can really customize your character. Havent tried out the pvp yet but it exists. I really enjoy the non-class system too.
I play FE and I must say it's not that close to AO. FE is much more solo, more freedom to do whatever you want with your char, but that means many builds will wind up being the same, and you don't really have to rely on people. A crafter in FE can craft anything, since every tradeskill is based on the same 2 stats, in AO you had to spend good AP in individual crafting skills, and the variety of races mixed it all up even further.
"Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the gun."
Thanks a lot for the responses so far, they're really helpful. Also, another consideration is that my PC is ~6 years old. It's got a Pentium 4 2.8 GHz processor and a ATI Radeon X1950PRO graphics card with 256 MB of memory. Even though it's old, it's really not that bad, but I'm concerned about trying to run some of the more graphics-intensive games on it. I'm a poor college student, and my budget isn't going to allow me to upgrade my PC for another year or two at least. Honestly though, cool graphics don't matter to me nearly as much as being able to play a solid game with good design and support.
Here's what I'm thinking about the games mentioned so far, but please feel free to make more suggestions:
Earthrise - I hadn't heard of it until now, but I looked it up, and I really like what I've seen so far. It seems to have a lot of the things I liked about EVE without all the empty black space and asteroids. I signed up for the beta, but it looks like the beta signup began last February? Any idea of when the game might be released or at least go into another round of beta?
Fallen Earth - I've been doing a little research on this game over the past few days, and it sounds interesting, but I'm a little concerned about whether my PC can handle it, especially since it's kinda a FPS. Having lag in AO was bad, but at least the server simulated your attacks while you were lagged out. In an online FPS-style game, a little lag (graphics or server lag) might make the game unplayable. Anyone know how well my PC might do with this game?
LOTRO - I'd heard of it but didn't know much about it. I'll have to check it out.
Aion - it sounds cool, but like xcopymmo said, I'm concerned about the characters being too simple for me. I'm really hesitant to pay all that money to buy it without a free trial or something, but I'm not ruling it out completely.
WoW - thanks for the suggestion, but I really don't think it's the game for me.
Guild Wars - sounds like a cool game, but I think I'm looking for something with a higher level cap and a different focus.
Also, it's OK to suggest a game that's a lot different from AO. I just figure if someone else likes AO and another game, there's a decent chance I'll like that game too since I really liked AO.
On your system specs alone eliminate all the games beside WoW, Lotro and Guild wars.
Honestly I have no idea how Aion would run on a single core system and ER looks pretty sick but wont be out for a while .
FE is also said to require atleast dual core system so thats out.
If I were you I would pick Guildwars. If you get into a nice guild that actively pvps and pves your good.
PLaying: EvE, Ryzom
Waiting For: Earthrise, Perpetuum
While I love LotRO, I suspect it is nothing like what you are looking for. The classes are pretty standard and the things you can do to differentiate them are relatively minor; the skill + trait system while interesting and requiring choices is nothing like as complex as AO; crafting is useful but again much simpler; and pvp isn't just optional, it's a nearly forgotten after-thought.
Pretty much any "modern" generation MMO will have the chat and UI features you are looking for.
Fallen Earth is probably the closest out there right now in terms of similar gameplay and design choices. However, most of the main MMOs out now have free trials (either constantly or occasionally) so you have very little to lose by playing around with the free versions.
I highly doubt even lotro would work on that, fallen earth you really need a beefy machine to run.