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Breaking point.
Guys,
I don't think I can do it anymore... I have played almost every MMORPG on the market, and nothing appeals to me. The only game that held me for more than 3 months has been Warhammer online, and with that game turning into a massive grindfest because of it's dwindling population, there is nothing left.
Rift Sucked. It was cool for the first week, and then turned into a massive grind with the same old 'dynamic' events. WoW is just always horrible. EQ2, although teeming with content, makes it too damn hard to be immersed. AoC, too much of a grind after tortuga, even though I throughly enjoyed the game until lvl 20.
My preference, I prefer games that are very Player oriented. Such as War, Darkfall, Aika. That deal. Can't stand games who's only purpose is to grind for shinier gear and a bigger number next to your name.
I loved WAR because from the get go, I was merc-ing bitches. Always facing players either through my PVE quest grinding, Scenarios, or Duking it out on the beaches of Nordland and Norsca. Sadly- there are no other games, with adequate populations like this.
Guys, I am really at my breaking point. I am totally losing faith in the MMORPG market. All games are the same. SW:toR is going to be a space WoW. Maybe some differences, but not the breath of fresh air I am looking for. (Its sad because I played both SW:KotR games through Multiple times.). And don't get me started about GW2. Its looks great, and they are promising a whole lot more, but I have been playing these games for a very long time. I know how the hype phases work. My instincts are telling me Guild Wars 2 is going to be a huge let down. No game can cater to the PvE and the PvP masses like they are trying to. Its either or. I can never be both... sadly.
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Rant over. Now the reason why I am here. Guys, I need your help. I have always loved MMORPGs. With all my heart and soul. I love openworlds, teeming with players. (Especially if I can kill them!!) I love the sense of community. I love it all. But sadly, these games either are total grindfests requiring weeks of straight gameplay to hit the goodstuff (end game content/pvp), or they are totally unbalanced. (Looking at the White Lions in WAR.). I find myself slinking back to Call of Duty. I hate it.
Please.. Please.. Please!!! People! Give me a breath of fresh air, help restore my faith in this market of gaming. Show me something that has potential and isn't more of the same...
Thank you for your time.
Comments
Maybe archage will deliver, but we've been down this road before so I'm firmly in 'wait and see'.
I am about to give Atlantica a try, but I am not confident in it. I loved Dofus for a bit, while i had the money to pay to win. But I am now pretty broke. Lets just hope I can find a decent game here. Any other suggestions?
DC universe once the "super servers" come, it is a fun game just the small population and heavy instance focus at end game make it a toughie to get groups in for now.
SW:ToR, Tera, Guild Wars to and if the marketing is to be believed The Secret world along with Arch Age might be good long term bets for you.
I'm right there with ya, buddy. I have my heartstrings securely fastened around a handful of indy games currently in development, but for now the MMORPG market looks bleak to my weary eyes.
Give me a well-thought out story with:
- Meaningful PvP and RvR.
- Player controlled but AI moderated economy
- Meaningful quests (hey, taking a ring to Mordor was a single quest, after all).
- Player impact on the world.
- Huge hybrid sandbox game with an ongoing narrative.
- Better PvE than "mash this button at 10:31 seconds in, then hop for 3 seconds when the boss burps".
Greystaff Legends RPG
Gotta agree with this. EVE sounds pretty much perfect for ya. Lots of PVP if you want, your actions can be very meaningful, lots of stuff to do and keep your attention for a long time.
And eve can also be played for free
You could also look into some of the older p2p games that have gone f2p with various models.
Anarchy online and Ryzom have a free game to a certain level, i think both a around lvl 100 then u will have to think about going p2p
dungeons and dragons online can be played completely free if you are willing to put in the grind, also has no real pvp so it isn't a p2w model shop.
Neocron 2 is free atm although i don't know when it will be going back to p2p(at 5 eu a month)
there's also planeshift which is 100% free, they have some interesting concepts but the downside is slow development.
I played EvE, and I really wanted to get into it. But like Darkfall, it requires so much time to become viable, and you will always be behind the Vets who have been skill training for over 6 years now. Ontop of that, it has the steepest learning curve out of any game I have ever seen. I really love the concept. Total Player run sandbox. Amazing. But, it feels like if I wanted to legitamately play, i needed to start at launch.
I feel your pain man. I just sucked it up and went back to Warhammer until something else peaks my interest, in addition to playing various offline titles.
I understand your sentiment but couldn't disagree more. Having more skill points or being around longer doesn't automatically make you better. The difference between a level 4 and level 5 skill is usually 5% and yet takes 5 times at long to train and gives 5 times as many SPs.
Someone who has focused skill training will be useful in a month. A person who has been training for a year may not have the diversity of a 6 year character, but they will be close to as good skill wise.
The main thing that the "vets" have is diversity. A person with 80m SP will be able to fly most of the race's ships and fly them well, a person with 20m (about a year of training) will be able to fly one race's ships and fly them well. Also don't think that all 6 year old characters have stayed subscribed the whole time. I have been playing on and off for 5 years and I only have 40Mish SPs.
Anyway, it is a complex game, but it is very worth it and is more player skill based than most MMOs out there and as such is more rewarding.
Don't be discouraged by the seemingly way out there vets, like I said they don't gain much on you other than diversity of ships, which won't make or break a fight. A good player with 10-20m SPs could easily take down a mediocre (or even good) player with 80m SPs.
~Edit: forgot to mention that yes the player driven market and gameplay is totally awesome! There is always some new and exciting to do.
Isn't eve also one of the few mmorpg's where you can have a place in pvp almost from the get go. Either in a frigate(getting close under the long range weapons) or a destroyer(for taking out frigs) and either for taking drones?
Oh boy, there is that piece of disinformation again. Yes, you can play EVE early on and have fun, but those level 5 skills make a massively huge difference. It is 5% for EACH and EVERY skill at 5. And it can be literally dozens and dozens of skills at 5 that EACH give a 5% bonus to the vets. Just do the math:
1.05^24 = 323% bonus
That said, if you don't mind playing a small role in large group PVP you can be viable pretty early. Just get used to being a second class citizen literally forever...
GW2 "built from the ground up with microtransactions in mind"
1) Cash->Gems->Gold->Influence->WvWvWBoosts = PAY2WIN
2) Mystic Chests = Crass in-game cash shop advertisements
I hear ya. I'm not playing any MMO's right now for the same reason. I am playing the other genres while I wait. But there IS hope on the horizon. Activision/Blizzard is making a MMOFPS and there is actually some hope there for the following reasons:
1) Activision wouldn't pursue it if it weren't going to be commercially successful becase they are a bunch of smart greedy bastards. That means vibrant large community. Just make sure you have a job so you can play it cause it won't be F2P that's for sure...
2) Activision CoD team plus the Bungie team know just a iittle something about FPS games (CoD/Halo)
3) Oh yeah, that Blizzard team may know a little something about MMOs. Say what you will about WoW, but it just worked for what it tried to do (until last year or two at least)
All the other games out there? Crap shoot. But that Activision/Blizzard/Bungie team will shake up the genre one of these days in the not too infinite future I hope...
GW2 "built from the ground up with microtransactions in mind"
1) Cash->Gems->Gold->Influence->WvWvWBoosts = PAY2WIN
2) Mystic Chests = Crass in-game cash shop advertisements
Maybe take a look at the Gamespot preview for SW:TOR, some info to cheer you up there about open world PvP. I don't doubt that it will be mostly themepark-ish though, so I get where you're coming from totally.
I'd go with what others have suggested about EvE if you're looking for something different.
On the F2P front there's also Black Prophecy and APB:Reloaded... both PvP heavy, and APB:R is a blast with friends.
Ye is that some math for the insane?
Talk about disinformation.... Lets take heavy missiles as a example. You have only 4 skills which affect its DPS (not counting the specialization skill, which can add a little bit more if using certain modules). There are some support skills which increase the missile range or effectiveness against smaller ships. But hardly a dozen. Getting level 4 in the four skills that affect DPS will put you within about 8-10% of the damage. Getting those support skills up to level 4 would then make the missile more effective (ie. longer range, better against frigates).
You may be able to go head to head against a vet if you get the drop on them and have a better fitted ship. But honestly this is a game meant to be played in a team and after a couple months of training you can be very useful to a alliance.
Dont have much to add to the discussion other than hope for the best in the future, lets also hope that developers make games for the long run and not quick cash cows.
And its Misinformation, not Disinformation... Two words, similar meaning, different context.
"The problem with quotes from the Internet is that it's almost impossible to validate their authenticity." - Abraham Lincoln
OP - right now at this moment there is nothing for you. Maybe down the line. Do what I've done and go back to single player rpgs and hack n slashes. Examples - Witcher 2, Dungeon Siege 3 (steam demo is tomorrow), Skyrim this fall. Keep your hopes up.