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Can anyone recommend an mmorpg for us please?
My friends and I are looking for an mmorpg to play and after almost 2 years of unsuccessful searching, we are hoping you guys may be able to give us some ideas. Here are some factors to take into consideration:
- We are all over 30 and are all experienced in mmorpgs
- We do not enjoy games where all you do is "kill stuff".
- We especially enjoy games which are more complex and/or which allow us to do other things than fighting. For example, our all-time favourite game (until SOE's idiot president ruined it) was the original Star Wars Galaxies, where you could choose to play the entire game as a fighter, or entertainer, or crafter or any mixture of these ... and where the crafting was extremely complex, challenging and rewarding (as opposed to the standard approach of most mmorpgs where 1 iron bar + 1 copper bar = 1 sword).
- We prefer PvE, but are happy to do some PvP (as long as it is not a non-stop elitist gank fest)
We also prefer sandbox games and skill-based games (where you improve individual skills rather than levelling up a class - such as the original Star Wars Galaxies), but these two aspects now seem so rare in mmorpgs nowadays that I felt it was pointless to add them to the above list.
We have tried LOTRO (was not bad but we got bored after a couple of months and the crafting aspect was very basic), VANGUARD (enjoyed the sandbox aspect, but again, crafting was very basic), WoW (worst crafting ever, and all about gear and killing stuff), EQ2 (crafting still very basic, nothing original about the game).
So ... can anyone suggest a game we might enjoy?
Thank you 
Comments
Have you tried EQ2? The crafting is quite interesting. There is a housing system. It does have classes, but there are quite a few to choose from and you also get Alternative Advancement points to even further enhance classes. It has a fairly large world to explore and quite immersive. They do have a trial, so try it out. Hope this helps.
I suppose you could try the Saga of Ryzom or Ryzom for short. The crafting is pretty amazing actually. Harvesting was always addicting for me( I haven't been playing lately, just paying for ffxi and not playing :P). I spent most of my time harvesting/craftin in this game and I really do love it. There is a drawback, the population isn't very high. It is somewhat stable though and new people play every day. I'm sure people returned for the update(maybe). The markets are kinda broken; just not enough people. So crafting is a good way to self sustain and with friends playing together u won't have to as much; that will all be much easier and funner. They just made the game open source, released a pretty cool update that expands upon the 4 skill trees fight, magic, harvest, craft, That all go branch off and go to 250 for master skills.
If you want more details on craft let me know.
Thank you for the suggestion, but yes, we tried EQ2 (though this was a few years ago). We thought the crafting was basic, the housing system was undynamic and we didn't like the graphics. The gameplay was fine, but there was nothing different or original about it ("Go and kill 10 mobs ...").
Sorry to be so negative ... but the whole game felt old-fashioned and same-old same-old ...
PS: have now edited my original post to mention EQ2 in the list of games we have tried.
Eve Online.
I never really enjoyed it myself but I never had anyone to play with. Very tough learning curve. Combat is pretty boring though... I think from what you have said you would enjoy it.. Especially if your friends wanted to control a System.
Hi, I would recommedn you: Dawntide (should be in open beta atm), EVE, Face of Mankind and Black Prophecy (closed beta atm), Perpetuum (closed beta)
I would say check out http://www.tera-online.com/ But it's a few months away from being released and very little is known about the crafting, pvp, housing, politics. It is action based, non targeting, OW sandbox.
If you your looking for something thats out now...boy I have no idea. Good luck.
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Thank you Jawali (and Holymonk).
We've been considering EVE for a year or so, I think we have been put off partly by the fact that you don't actually have an avatar that you move around, and partly because we've read that the game has already been established for so long, and so hugely, that it is difficult for newcomers to make their mark.
We've been keeping a very close eye on Perpetuum, but I've never heard of the other games you mention - we'll check them out
You thought crafting in Vanguard was basic? Wow... that's a new one on me. I think that game has one of the best crafting systems ever conceived, but to each their own I guess.
I'd recommend looking into Xyson, Aerrevan, Dawntide, and Craft of Gods. All are skill based sandboxes which are probably going to be released within the next 6 months or so.
Edit: Spelling errors.
The problem is that once you've experienced the crafting system in the original Star Wars Galaxies, most crafting systems are going to be very basic. On a scale of 1-20 I would give the WoW crafting system about 3, the Vanguard system about 9 and the Star Wars Galaxies system at least 19.
I won't bore you with all the details, but I'd like to give you a brief idea. In SWG there were maybe 15 resource categories (metals, ores, hard plastics, liquid plastics, woods, plants, gases, liquids, etc). Each categories contained literally dozens of sub-categories ... so under metals for example you would find all the metal types that you can think of (iron, steel, copper, zinc ... etc etc).
There would then be spawns of these sub-categories, each with a different spawn name ... so, for example, there would be up to 100 different types of copper. Every resource had 6-8 aspects (hardness, flexibility, durability, conductivity, etc) and each aspect was graded from 0-100. (So for example, a copper might be graded as follows: Hyanarium Copper: Hardness 30, Durabilty 40, Conductivity 96, Flexibility 68, etc).
Spawns would last from between 1 day and 2 weeks. The chances were that the exact same resource would never spawn again. You had to locate the spawns (which could be on any of 9 different planets) and then set up mining machinery to collect them.
Once you had collected the best possible resources, you could then work on trying to improve certain aspects, depending on your skills (increasing a wood's hardness for example, or a plastic's flexibility). You would then create your first sub-components, on which you could again conduct experiments to improve certain aspects. These sub-components would then be put together to form components (more experimentation) which in turn would form the finished product (more experimentation).
The quality of the final product thus depended on the character's skill in finding and mining the best resources, the tools he used (player-made, varying qualities), his experimentation skills, the quality of his mining and construction equipment (player-made, varying qualities), etc. It is no exaggeration to say that every item created in SWG was unique.
So ... that is what I mean by complexity ... what were you saying about the complexity of the crafting in Vanguard?
You aren't being negative. You are sharing your opinion. If you were being negative, you would have just stated that you hated the game and can't see why people play. You actually stated your reasons why you didn't like it. Though I don't share your opinion, I do respect it.
You could get a trial code in the EVE forum here, good for three weeks. A lot of ex-swg vets went there, those that liked jtls I would guess. They are working on avatars, reading something like how EnB did it. Not sure about making a mark, as if you could in swg? My marks were often Jediee
EQ2? Kiiinda like WoW on valume
ehhh... *shrugs* (note: not meant as anything positive about WoW)
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Have you tried Atlantica Online? It's a turn-based MMORPG where you may control up to 9 mercenaries. It's also a game of strategy when battling with other players.
Wow . .. I loved the crafting in Vanguard!
Best sandbox game out right now is Darkfall Online. The 14day free-trial is out now so I suggest giving it a try. The crafting is awesome to some people and too basic for others. I was very frustrated with the game at first but am so glad that I gave it a try as it turned out being the funnest gaming experiences that I have ever had.
The PVP is extremely fun and nothing else compares in this area . .. but you will most likely spend most of your time with PVE if you stick with the game. I love the PVE, it almost feels like fighting real monsters because their AI is incredible.
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EVE. People join every day and make their mark in a short time. Empires rise and fall on a regular basis and you could quickly establish a niche for yourself and make your mark. (BTW, in EVE terms quickly is a year or so.)
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I would suggest Fallen Earth. Now I'll admit straight away that the crafting isn't as complex as SWG, but it is one of the better crafting systems in play right now.
It's a hybrid sandbox/storyline game. A lot of area to explore, resources to find. I like the combat system which is sort of a faux-FPS style. Vehicles to construct.
The game has a solid foundation on which to build.
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