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[Column] General: The Top 5 Casual MMORPGs
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
With so many options out there for an MMO to play, there is something for everybody. Whether you’re looking for an epic fantasy adventure, alternate history, sci-fi conquests, or maybe even a real-life simulator, you can surely find and MMO to satiate your unique hunger. Not everyone is a seasoned MMO veteran however. This is our list of the top 5 best casual MMOs on the market right now and each of these would be great choices for anyone looking for a more casual MMO gaming experience.
Read more of David Jagneaux's The List: The Top 5 Casual MMOs.
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Comments
Good list though I may have to disagree with WoW.
I don't think the sub model is good for casual play. If you can only play 10-15 hours a month, I believe you'd be better off playing an f2p title and spending money to unlock only when necessary.
"Before WoW, you would have to truly search environments, talk to NPCs, and decipher information for quests."
This statement made me realize what younger players feel makes a good "casual" game. It also defines what is happening to the genre of MMO games and why the sandbox is more than ever needed to save our online adventure games.
I disagree with WoW being on the list. The end game these days is really all about raiding - an activity that usually requires organisation, teaming up, and commitment for a planned few hours. This is in no way 'casual'.
Leveling characters via questing is a casual activity, but since vanilla WoW, this is much less fun than it was. The emphasis of the game has moved away from leveling to raiding via nerfing strong class characteristics, easy leveling, flying mounts, and instant leveling to 80 etc.
true but you dont have to do raiding
WOW is very casual friendly if you want to do pet battles at max level instead
or chase after cosmetic achievements instead of raiding
EQ2 fan sites
Really? Compared to what AAA MMO?
AoC, WAR, TOR, RIFT and the rest of the games who released the last 6 or 7 years have fewer active player and almost are converted from P2P to F2P. ESO seems to be falling fast as well even if WS still is impossible to tell.
GW2 launch in China seems to be doing pretty well.
If you want proof then consider that Anet have more devs than when the game launched while studios like Bioware have cut a lot of people and Mythic even got closed down. That tells the story better than everything else.
I lol'd
Not since LFR was implemnted in 2011. LFR is essentially casual raiding...and thats why WoW has so many players, it has content for everyone....casuals, sponsored guilds raiding 16 hours a day for world firsts that take months to accomplish. No MMO on the market today, aside from WoW (and perhaps Wildstar now), has endgame instances that take 16 hours a day of running for over a month to clear, on top of bing super casual friendly.
Couldn't agree more. It's one of the major problems the game has had that has contributed to it's rapid decline and was very disheartening for the long time fans of Guild Wars such as myself. The good news is they are starting to make changes in the right direction and hopefully will release a full expansion soon before it goes belly up, I'm really looking forward to an expansion for GW2 such as Cantha (hint Anet
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All in all it's a good list, and I agree with the games listed on here. WoW is the most casual friendly raid game on the market. I have heard, but not played, Mabinogi so it seems accurate for it to be here. DC Universe is great to jump into for a few hours here and there.
Good article MMORPG.com, and a good list for beginning or returning players to the genre.
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
Allow me to disagree. Since Wrath of the Lich King WoW has become a very casual friendly MMO, offering to these players plenty of stuff to do. It's one of the main reasons for the skyrocketing off the sub numbers. The only (i think) mmo giving casuals and solo players the means to experience all end game PvE content.
Actually, during WotLK the game peaked at 12 million subscribers and has since fallen to around 7 million. Before they made it as casual friendly, it actually had more subs.
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
Whoever wrote this knows absolutely nothing about Mabinogi. It is most definitely NOT for casual players. The game takes at least a year before you even start feeling strong unless you decide to pay each week for a character card (there is a rebirth system where if you're a F2P player you can rebirth every 3 weeks and start from level one and level up again, as the leveling process is fast and you can get to lvl 100+ in a couple weeks without trying).
It is a game based on skills and there are a lot of skills to rank (Rank 1 being the highest a skill can be ranked to). Each level gives you AP (Ability Points) to spend upon ranking skills. This is why the rebirth system exists, to support the skill system in a way.
Whoever wrote this up doesn't really appear to know what they are talking about... I would highly suggest Mabinogi, but don't go into it thinking that it is an easy game to understand. It is not like the author of this article described, it is not "casual."
Smile
Actually, WoW peaked not long after Cata was released.....oddly enough, the subs started dropping as soon as they tried to bring it back inline to the BC days during Cata.......ahh, i still remember all the crying on the forums about how hard the dungeons were, and have fond memories of seeing the term "wrath baby" spewed everywhere lol.
Fair enough, I stand corrected. Although I loved the Cata dungeons haha.
They are already working on it, from what I have seen it's called ArcheAge
(it's a joke, don't get up in arms peoples!)
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
ehm what? LFR finder and Flex raids .....ppl are pugging raids nonstop even HC
So then in your opinion more casual games have to have a cash shop that costs more than a sub each month for basic necessities? I'm genuinely curious as I don't understand the train of thought that more money spent = more casual. Any information on why a lot of people think this would help me understand, thanks!
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
If GW2 had a sub it wouldn't be as casual-friendly as it is now. Having a P2W cash shop that forces you to spend an arm and both legs to be "competitive" isn't casual-friendly either, but having to pay a subscription for a game you play on and off isn't as casual friendly as it could be. If WoW's payment system in the west was more a pay as you play like in China then it would earn that third place more than it does now.
uh...... where is that decline? I havent seen it.
Also, Its ok if you left the game (nothing wrong with leaving a game you dont like) but dont make your departure sound like the long time fans (in plural) of the original game left with you. Im one of them and im still there with plenty of others.
Still to this day the game is packed. They even managed to successfully add mega server tech (unlike Zeni), so the game feels even more populated now.
Im still waiting to see where is the decline.
I played for 2 years and the bottom half of the tiers were dead pre megaserver merge. If you disagree that's fine, but I'm entitled to my opinion and my observation, accompanied with several guilds I have been in on GW2 over the years breaking apart due to lack of interest and players.
I do like the game by the way, it just has way too many problems that aren't being addressed quickly enough to hold a good player retention rate. It's still a highly populated game to be sure, but I would be very surprised if more than one million players play the game out of the 3 million that bought it.
The game is definitely packed in the PvE world now because everyone is on the same server, but the fact that it had to be done to even make it seem like there were players at all is a dead give away. There is light at the end of the tunnel for long time fans though, there are all sorts of expansion hints and hopefully they learned from the LS debacle of the first season to know that temporary content just doesn't work the way they imagined it would.
If you don't see the decline or you have a solid community, that's great and I'm glad you are enjoying it! But everyone I know personally has already moved on to other games or logs in once a month just to see if problems/issues have been fixed and content has been added.
I loved WvW, but due to lack of population and severe imbalances the game has been in a steady decline for 1.5 years+.
The game does remain one of the best, if not the best, leveling experiences 1-80 in any MMO to date. The problem is, unless you unlimited time or a whole lot of money to spend on the cash shop, the game ends at 80 for most players as there is little end game activity beyond farming and WvW.
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.