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Best WoW F2P Alternative
Hi,
I keep getting the urge of getting back on WoW now and then to find myself spending 15 bucks and play a night and then never play again in the month.
So I was wondering what's the best alternative? I already know a lots of them but still I want your advice.
Here's my thoughts of the alternatives I already know:
RoM, kinda ugly but this seems to be still the best alternative;
LOTRO, I liked it in the begining, but not being a huge LOTR fan, and PvP-wise I find this game weak, I find myself getting bored very quickly.
Allods, The graphics are very nice, the game is deep, but the cash shop is kinda annoying, and the game is pretty dead at the moment.
EQ2, I LOVED that game when it was not F2P, but since I want a F2P game, and EQ2 is now so cash shop oriented, and the fact that I HATE SOE with a passion reminds of bad bad nightmares, but still this game has a place in my heart.
Those are the games I have on my mind right now, please suggest me some more or convince me into one!
Thanks for your help, it is very appreciated!
Comments
PvP really isn´t something F2P do that good, it usually turns into pay2win like Allods.
If PvP is what you wish you will either have to get a B2P game like Guildwars or stay with P2P. GW will cost you a few bucks when you start but they are only selling fashion crap in the shop so you need less stuff there than you need in Wows cashshop.
PvE is a little easier. DDO is pretty good, so is Forsaken world and Runes of magic is acceptable.
Or you can wait a few months for GW2 to release.It will be B2P as well though.
Thanks for your quick response!
I'm not really looking FOR PvP, but I like to sometimes hop into some just for fun. Frankly, I'm more of a PvE person hehe.
I was wondering, is there any room for some more noobs in GW ? I never bought the game, did the trial, but no more. It is costing a lot cheaper now that GW2 is on its way for 2012. So I could give it a try I guess hehe.
DDO was pretty fun, I thought of regiving it a try last week. Always found it a bit complex because of the D&D stuff but I should give it another go. As for RoM it looks like it has everything I'm looking for but last time I tried it it was like WoW when it came out (ugly for nowadays).
I heard Forsaken World was a total grindfest, but I'll check it out for sure, I don't mind the grind anyways.
Finally, yes I'm waiting for GW2 and damn it, I'm gonna buy it hehe.
Thanks again for your response!
If you like PvP that much, believe me, MOBAs are the way to go now. Pick up League of Legends or Heroes of Newerth (Depending on how hardcore you are. League of Legends is much more laid back.)
Edit: Heh..sorry, just read your second post explaining that you are more of a PvE person.
I wouldn't get GW1 right now if I were you. You need to get all the expansions for all the abilities to unlock and that can add up. You need all the abilities to compete with those that have them all as well.
best f2p mmorpg without p2w items in item mall is by far POTBS.moderate pve with excellent pvp.in pvp the player skill matters
Allods is no longer the horrible P2W it used to be and as far as I know EQ2 went fully f2p some months ago. You can also try GW but it's substantially different from WoW so I wouldn't call it an alternative in the "WoW but f2p" sense.
i heard that eden eternal is nice game, but only if you can deal with anime graphix. also rom is now avalible trough browser, but i never liked the artstyle. it's pretty bad imo.
i can't call ddo wow alternative, but it's awsome once you get in it.
i read alot that cs in allods in lot more acceptable now, but it's bad strart pushes away most of the players.
forsaken world in grindfest, but in quests/events/dailys completing point of view. but hey, that's wow's case too.
as someone above me said, asian f2p (including gpotato, frogster etc...) model has always p2w pvp.
i'll stick with some freemium title if i was you.
Allods still has tons of players and is a high-quality WoW alternative. They had some serious cash-shop issues at launch which have been solved in my experience. It's worth trying now.
I dont rate MOBAs at all they are like RTS games just with a lot of the RTS stripped out.. they bore the hell out of me and i love PVP...
Fallen Earth is pretty good plus its f2p tho its sci fi so not really like wow in that aspect lol..
No, it didn't. It's F2P, but far from "fully". You still have to buy the 2 latest expansions, if you want them. And quite a lot of features (ie bag slots, broker access, etc) is locked, and must be paid for if you want it. And besides, the OP already mentioned EQ2 self.
OP, a good WoW F2P alternative doesn't really exist. Besides, F2P games are usually (always?) too restrictive when not paying anyting.
After enjoying the swtor beta weekend I was looking for something similar and got stuck with Age of Conan which is surprisingly fun.
Downside is that I fail horribly at pvp there and it's true that p2win armor exists but other than that the game uses the wow interface and is quite decent.
You could simply try the beginner area Tortage - it has a nice storyline, lots of quests and all npcs in this area got a voiceover.
Playing this area will quickly make you realize if you like the game or if you want to move on.
he said he is focused on PvE so he would be fine. F2P mmos taht are restrictive when not paying actually affects mostly PvP users (which is why ppl hate F2P in the first place) because cash shop tends to unbalance PvP in many F2P titles.
Games like Runes of magic for example, you can get enough ingame money and buy cash shop currency within the game (yes, legaly.. not from gold sellers) so you can get cash shop stuff basically without spending real money.
If Gpotato werent that greedy with their cash shop i would say the best f2p alternative to WoW is Allods. But yeah, Gpotato and their cash shop stinks.
I completely disagree. I haven't ever seen any F2P game which didn't have annoying pay-to-unlock restrictions that affects PvE. This is NOT just a simple "PvP play to win" issue.
Wow, woke up this morning to see this thread full of good replies! Thanks to everybody!
I'm now checking out Forsaken World, re-checking out Age of Conan and EQ2.
I'll continue to read on your replies as those are very appreciated!
Thanks again!
I'd also like to suggest Runes of Magic. Not my style of game, but it's very WoW-like. If you like WoW you might like RoM.
I would give my nod towards AoC its a fantastic game. A little warning however is that the f2p mode is essentially a glorified trial where you can level up to max cap of 80 but to do endgame stuff your not going to be able to be a f2p member.
I would also suggest LOTRO. Its a good game and the more you play the more turbine points you can unlock to get more stuff you want. The only thing is that a lot of people find the combat boring because its quite slow passed. It has very good graphics, story, etc but I do find myself playing in spurts because the combat can be kind of annoying. I recommend making friends fast and playing w/ them. Also keep in mind its a harder game than say WoW. In other words the worlds are more dangerous and you can and will die often.
A not on ROM I found the game pretty fun but there is a huge reliance on the Cash shop. Like one of the other members said you CAN buy cash shop points w/ in game coins but you REALLY need to farm an insane amount to do that.
EQ2 I thought was bull shit its so limited. Limited amount of classes and races you can play, certain armor cant be worn and is locked until you buy an unlocking item, no Aleternate Advancement, Can't get best version of spells etc. I just was constanlty angry at how many times SOE tried to get me to buy stuff.
I was also curious about Forsaken World, well, until I checked it's forum section here at mmorpg.com. That made me lose interest. Seems it's fun in the beginning, but turns into a slow and boring grinder around lvl 30-40.
I tried Age of Conan a while back, and didn't even get past the starting area. It was heavy instanced, you had a lot of running back and forth in the same areas, and during the night cycle, it's a solo game. Heard it's better later, but the start got too boring for me. Tried it again after it went F2P, to see if this had changed. It had not.
EQ2: I played it quite a lot earlier, but quit 2-3 years ago. Came back a few months ago to check it out. It's a good game if you subscribe (gold membership), but I wouldn't bother with the F2P version. Don't buy the 2 latest expansions, at least not yet. DoV is pretty much an end-game expansion, and I'd say it's a good one. AoD is a bloody piece of shit, and the only 2 things it brings into the game worth mentioning at all, is mercs you can hire, and a dungeon maker. Not worth paying for, imo.
To anwer your question about guild wars 1 having room for noobs the answer is yes!
I started playing 2 months ago and now have a couple lvl cap toons, the lvl cap is 20 so its not about grinding lvl or gear, its about skill and tactics and its alot of fun, i recomened for pve and pvp.
Yes it is, but only on the EU servers during beta :-(
So far I'll be retrying EQ2 just for its place in my heart even if F2P version seems to suck a lot.
And then I'll maybe retry AoC... I dunno let's see :-) Thanks for your many responses!