Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Looking for something new to play
Hey all and thanks for taking a peak at this thread.
I have been hopping from mmo to mmo again lately and i can't seem to find one that holds me for long. Mainly because these are of the free sort and don't have that much endgame content or any specific endgame content at all.
Also a lot of them have those chibi anime character like looks to them which just gets annoying after a while imho.
So i'm here looking for something to play while waiting for GW 2, TOR and a few other games to come out since i haven't been able to find anything on my own.
I'm basically looking for either a paid,hybrid or free one and a pvp and/or pve focussed game. Both can either be a sandbox or themepark aswell.
What i'm looking for in a pvp one is stuff like taking over land, sieges and simply put, big fights.Being able to build bases/castles/forts etc etc would be a nice pre aswell. What i'm not interested in is a pay to win behaviour in a pvp type game; i've done that before just to try it out but it gets boring fast.
As for what i'm looking for in a pve type game; plenty of raids/dungeons, using your brain to do stuff (or at least a little), housing is a pre, different ways to get to max level, other ways of endgame then just raiding. Also being able to get some bad ass looking endgame sets would be nice but not necessary. A well thought out crafting system would be a pre too.
These are some of the mmo's i've played;
Gods and Heroes (beta)
Guild Wars
Fallen Earth (before the f2p conversion)
Mortal online
DC universe online
Rift
Age of Conan (before it went F2P)
Star Trek online
Champions online
City of heroes/villains
Lineage 2 (never got past level 2 on this)
Planetside
Vanguard
Everquest 2 (before the extended stuff)
Eve online
Star Wars Galaxies
Warhammer online (WAR)
World of Warcraft
Aika
Conquer online
And i will probably have missed a few i can't think off atm.
Comments
I've done some thinking and wanted to know what the population in general is like in the following games nowadays;
Everquest 2
Aion
Lineage 2
Warhammer online (WAR)
Fallen Earth
Age of Conan
Not too sure about the games you've mentioned, but...
I've played World of Warcraft for as long as I can remember. It's pretty much fun till the end game and then things get hard because the PvP is boring (in my opinion they completely destroyed world PvP with flying mounts), PvP arena is boring crap, PvP battlefields get boring and get repeative fast. PvE... well the community just isn't that nice so it's hard to PvE. It feels like raiding becomes a second job just because everything happens at the certain time and you need to know everything about the dungeon before you've even done it. Pull a single mob that you probably could avoid by raping the walls and you get a chorus of some over religious c**nts whining at you.
However the thing is that World of Warcraft is the best MMORPG where you need choose and click to attack. Other games like that may have awesome graphics, good controls etc. but usually they lose when it comes to lore, amount of features and how polished the game is. For example Lord of the Rings Online was a somewhat popular and high budget game, but in the end it couldn't do well enough against other games of that type. The only thing I found to be worse in it than in WoW was the lack of good PvP. At the moment about to try the free version of it to see what kind of changes there have been lately tho.
So yeah World of Warcraft is pretty much the choise when it comes to that kind of combat style at the moment. Other games I could imagine myself playing are action MMORPGs such as Darkfall Online (currently really considering getting it after playing a couple week trial), EVE Online (which is currently probably the best sandbox sci-fi MMORPG around), Mythos/Drakensang Online (which both are Diablo-like action-RPGs).
I am currently waiting for games such as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Diablo 3. I've always loved RPGs and probably always will. Too bad that they are so rare and there are usually so many years between their releases. Also find it crappy that instead of FPS (etc.) games stay what they are instead of there being more RPG elements in them and RPGs have to turn into the action crap that the mentally handicapped demand.
As an example Dragon Age: Origins was a great game, but couldn't stand playing horrible piece of s**t like Dragon Age 2 for more than 30 minutes. 
Sorry for so much ranting. For a decent MMORPG fantasy game you should probably check Darkfall Online and for a decent sci-fi MMORPG you should probably check EVE Online. :> Well sandbox game is probably what you're looking for and if you do happen to find a better one than the two I mentioned then please mention it because I would be interested. :>
You could try Runes of Magic it's free to play with a bit of a pay to win mentality though. You CAN play it completely for free because you can buy the stuff from the cash shop from other players with in game gold or with phirius tokens that you earn doing daily quests. It has player housing, guild castles, and guild castle siege wars, and guild wars ( you can be randomly warred by other guilds). It is a decent game with lots to do. I will warn you though it can be buggy. People complain of crashes during the guild seige wars but no matter how much they complain it's the same people every night fighting in those wars because they are addicting & fun. The servers are setup as pvp and pve so if you like free for all pvp with a chance to drop your items you can do that (there are cash shop items that lock your gear so you don't drop it when you die).
I played RoM for almost 2 years and simply just got burnt out.
I wouldn't recommend AION to my worst enemy. It has one of the worst communities I've ever seen in a game. I guess it's a given though with it being a PVP focused game.
I've played WoW for 7 years and i like totally forgot to put it in that list of the games i played; sorry about that andthanks for the reply nonetheless olwydd !
I tried out runes of magic for a bit but there's something that instantly puts me off but i can't seem to place my finger on it, thanks for your reply though lorisha !
To the OP:
Having reviewed your extensive list of games you've played, and not having found one to hold your interest, is it just possible that MMOs no longer hold any interest for you?
Hedonismbot: Your latest performance was as delectable as dipping my bottom over and over into a bath of the silkiest oils and creams.
i would say try darkfall for pvp, DDO for pve and some small independent mmorpg (haven&hearth, wurm, ataitd ....) for crafting
edit: or you can try for crafting ryzom or istaria
Your exposure to games greatly exceeds my own. However, I can suggest something not on your list.
The game is called Shaiya. I believe it's an Asian game, but that's just based on the art styles. It has a few interesting concepts in MMORPG. One is that a character can be played on easy normal hard or ultimate mode. The higher the difficulty level the more difficult or at least more time consuming the leveling process is. The plus is that harder modes get better stats. A level 50 HM (hard mode) is much stronger than on normal.
The emphasis appears to be building an uber character and do PVP. My character is still low and I haven't seen a dungeon yet. Questing and grinding seem evenly balanced. Half of the time I can't find the mobs I need for the quest so I just wander and grind until I find them or level up into new quests.
Graphics are reasonable and it runs very well even on lower hardware. I've never seen a bug other than artwork flaws (buildings that hover inches off the ground) and typos in the English translation.
Probably the biggest surprise in it is that the community is really decent. The antagonists on trade are few and far between. There are GMs that monitor trade and quickly calm things down. Even random acts of kindness like buffs from high level players which really makes gameplay much easier.
Possibly such a grinder would seem to be an unusual endorsement from a guy like me, but honestly the game isn't half bad. Compared to many, that's pretty good! Server I play on is Gaia and I'm on the non-human faction. I forget the name.
I'm no psychologist, by any means, but you are in limbo because of two reasons...
#1 You can't stand a game where the payerbase sucks.
#2 You want relationships that are meaningful and a credible place to nuture them.
Welcome to the Neverending Quest for the Perfect MMOG!!! (See my Blog -shameless plug)
I've hopped as many games as you and more...
I have maxed and geared characters in them all. But, like you, I miss my friends. I miss having a place that we can meet and do epic things. Before leaving WOW, my friends and I would talk on vent about crazy non-game things while taking down the Lich King... rofl... thats gaming.
We are human and we outgrow games. Our friends and family often cannnot keep pace. Just keep trying, as do I.
Bright days are coming... just prepare yourself for the fun.
That is possible, the ones i've played for the past months aren't exactly AAA ones though so that might also be the case. i dunno maybe i'm just bored waiting for GW 2, sw tor, nuclear dawn etc etc.
Also ataaka, i think your dead on. i used to play a lot of this stuff with my friends and most of them are really busy with their jobs nowadays so we usually only do one or two games of league of legends because they simply don't have the time to do anything else anymore.
However i thank you all for the suggestions and i'll get to checking them out asap as it doesn't change the fact that i'm bored :P
Have you tried FFXIV? I know just reading those letters probably make you cringe a little but I'm serious! I played in the Beta and hated it but I gave it another try and now I'm loving it! After 6 months of my husband hearing me whine 24/7 about not having a good MMO to play , to get immersed in he went out and surprised me with FFXIV for my birthday. He knows I never would of just bought it for myself because of how much I hated it in Beta so he "forced" me to play it and I'm glad he did..lol
I know aoc got a big boost of players went it went free, but unless you want your chatbox to be one long list of swear words a good portion o those players would be on your ignore list. Not sure if the numbers have dropped much or not.
fallen earth is going f2p soon so i would wait until then to try it personally
from what i can tell the numbers in war and lin2 aren't good, but unless the company releases accurate numbers it's hard to tell(it certainly won't be anywhere near what the fanboys tell you it is)
i might try that out actually, i loved the non mmo FF's and i did the beta for it aswell which indeed sucked very bad, did they change a lot ?
and thanks for the info karahandras !
I didn't see Ryzom on your list, it definitely has good harvesting/crafting, and is all skill based. All spells, attackes, prospecting, etc, are actions that you have to build yourself, there are no classes. Small but very good community.
------------
2024: 47 years on the Net.
everquest 2 on antonia-bayle is heavily populated. not sure about nagafen (pvp server), though people talk about playing on it.
aion has a decent population, again on the right server, however, it is a bit top heavy.
lineage 2 is way over the top, top heavy.
war is as well, however, even just the free 1-10 level pvp area was constantly busy.
fallen earth, its been too long since i played it to comment on pop size.
aoc is top heavy, however, it does seem to encourage altitis, so there were still enough ppl at lower levels at least to group with.
it sounds like population size is at the top of your list of concerns. keep that in mind while looking about. i have had the same problem you have had. just hopping aimlessly. but i ended up where i always do and im pretty happy with it. though i'll probly pick up FE when it goes f2p in October and try STO when it goes f2p as well. /shrug nothing to lose but the download time.
as for where i ended up i really liked Lineage2 but again with the top heavy environment it was a bit difficult. everyone that i found logged in was sitting in a city at a portal guardian and in afk bot mode. so i went back to EQ2 and primarily Vanguard. the pop size has grown, there's always "several someones" in my gulid on and its the best pve game ive played since SWGpreNGE.
good luck in your search. it was dry times for a while for me till i just got honest with myself. which is why i suggested you keep in mind that it seems pop size is number one on your list. dont fool yourself, just be honest and be willing to accept where that honest look at pop size, crafting/harvesting, and other game mechanics takes you.
you'll be a lot happier for it in the long run.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse