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[Column] General: The Top 5 Hardcore MMORPGs
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Last week I covered the best casual MMORPGs, so it was only fitting that we shift our gaze this week towards the most hardcore games the genre has to offer. Instead of focusing solely on games that are currently live and flourishing, I’ve mixed it up with some old-school entries as well on this list. First and foremost though, I define hardcore to mean games that are inherently designed to be difficult, unforgiving, and intense by design. By this definition, they just don’t make MMOs like they used to.
Read more of David Jagneaux's The List: The Top 5 Hardcore MMOs.
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Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.
Edgar Allan Poe
i am casual player ,I playing & enjoying in Eve without any limitations
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
Good article, I was too young to experience UO or EQ in their original launch forms though I've never heard the end of the praise from other players over the years.
Eve online, on the other hand, is one of the top 5 mmo's I've played the most over the past 10 years on and off. I love how steep the learning curve is and I excel at knowing 80%+ of it's features and being the one people ask for advice/answers. Since the week I started in 2004 to now I've never stopped living in 0.0 space and I've taken part in many of the biggest and most famous battles/wars to date.
21 year MMO veteran
PvP Raid Leader
Lover of The Witcher & CD Projekt Red
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
Everyone can see the content in WoW, even a dog could probably manage it. Seeing it on the hardest difficulty is a different story, but it doesn't change the content of the content so to speak.
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
Agreed, I enjoyed WoW up until MoP. I feel that LFR has cheapened the experience of the game and it felt like I was treading water at end game rather than doing anything meaningful. No one cares if you clear heroics anymore because they are perfectly happy doing it on LFR or Flex. There is no sense of achievement or awe associated with the game any more which is one reason why I think it's losing subs.
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
Don't expect accuracy from either the writers, editors or members of this site. You and I know the truth.
Boy: Why can't I talk to Him?
Mom: We don't talk to Priests.
As if it could exist, without being payed for.
F2P means you get what you paid for. Pay nothing, get nothing.
Even telemarketers wouldn't think that.
It costs money to play. Therefore P2W.
If the content from the varying difficulty levels was different, it would be in the hardcore list too. The raids are the same exact raids with slightly different mechanics. I have cleared them on LFR, Normal, and over 1/2 on Heroic. If the raids for heroic difficulty were completely different raids, it would deserve a spot on this list as well. You can experience the entire content in LFR however.
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
It's losing subs, because people are losing jobs. When and if they find jobs they are making less money. WoW isn’t losing subs, the genre is losing gamers. The ~4 million lost gamers haven't shown up in any other games. They are gone.
Boy: Why can't I talk to Him?
Mom: We don't talk to Priests.
As if it could exist, without being payed for.
F2P means you get what you paid for. Pay nothing, get nothing.
Even telemarketers wouldn't think that.
It costs money to play. Therefore P2W.
I don't think that's true. Games like Rift, GW2, ESO, WildStar, etc. All have healthy and growing populations. Well, not GW2 anymore, but Rift has definitely picked up double what it was when I was playing 6 months after release. ESO is stuffed to the brim as is WildStar. Even the original EQ has had a resurgence with most servers being High pop at prime time now.
No, the players are definitely still there, they have just moved on to other games imo.
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
WoW's top-tier of end game raiding is hard core, but the majority of the game isn't. I'm not even sure that the majority of the raid content would be considered "hard core". Top-tier end game raiding may not be the reason that most people play the game either. I know when I play, I'm not thinking about getting into any of those raids, I'm thinking about the leveling, story and PvP content, in a mostly "casual" manner. If I am going to get into any of the raid content, it will be the content that is accessible through a raid finder.
So while WoW does have content ranging from easy and casual to difficult and hard core, it's not necessarily a hard core game given the audience the game is tuned for.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I don't think they were specifically talking about just the grind so much as the difficulty of the end game and the content itself. L2 indeed had one of the steepest grinds to ever hit the genre, but DAoC's end game RvR was the most intense PvP I have ever played. L2 sieges were fun, but it was nowhere near the excitement or skill level of running 8 man groups in DAoC.
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
EQ at it's height probably had a few more percent (like 3% or so) but then the gamers who actually played EQ were rather different back then.
Wow might belong on a top 10 list but not the top 5 if you count older games at their heights like here. Yeah, I admit that Wow have some really hard raid content but if it was the first MMO you played you missed the really hard ones.
Also, EQ was hard all the time after the noob zones. 90% of the game was hard. Wow have maybe 5% of the content hard.
Agreed, unless of course you just count time consuming as hardcore. I actually though that L1 was harder than L2 when you played it even if it was nowhere near as time consuming (or maybe I just played better a few years later).
So basically, all the hardcore games are gone and only the casual are left... with the exception of EVE Online and whatever servers are still running the old games as they were at release.
You'd have gotten far more bites with this title "There are no hard core MMOs"
I don't think they were specifically talking about just the grind so much as the difficulty of the end game and the content itself. L2 indeed had one of the steepest grinds to ever hit the genre, but DAoC's end game RvR was the most intense PvP I have ever played. L2 sieges were fun, but it was nowhere near the excitement or skill level of running 8 man groups in DAoC.
Well,I'll agree with you,if you are talking about playing on Mordred, that is wheeler I spent most of my time and 8 man's truly shined there.But I never got to the top levels in L2, the grind wore me out, I commend those who were able to persevere. Contrast that to the 10 or so level 50s I've had in DAOC, truly is one of my two favorite games of all time.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon