Well, I can say which one I had most fun with, and those were World of Warcraft (when I was quite new to it) and Fallen Earth. I never got a max level character in any other MMORPG again, they all bored me before I got close to that.,
Star Wars Galaxies pre-CU / pre NGE was definitely the best MMO I ever played. It had everything. Player owned taverns, entertainer class, Beast handlers, and non-instanced housing. Jedi had to be unlocked and was only for a privileged few. Permadeath in PvP for Jedi. It had a real community and player driven economy. Everything had value to someone. No quest hubs or hand holding. It was sink or swim noobs. That is how I like it.
The early days of EQ2 were also very good but the game ran horribly on most PCs.
Mostly played Lineage 2 (after the SWG nge nerf) for the seamless open world and diverse class quests.
From 2007 onwards most MMOs have been disappointments. EQ2 became my go to nostalgia MMO until 2012.
Currently playing Vindictus which isn't too bad. Has no open world but the combat is fun and the economy is largely player driven.
WOW for everything but leveling. Leveling goes to SWTOR (first time through only), but I've never played TSW.
I hated the design(including art) of EQ, my friends played but I just couldn't be sucked into it for lots of reasons. All of which were corrected by WOW.
UO was on my radar but their horrible launch plus the sub price turned me off. At that point I was playing competitive Quake of all things. I think it's core design was too 'griefer' friendly to have won me.
SWG was definitely on my radar but the randomness of becoming a jedi and the lack of space combat kept me away. It simply wasn't ready for prime time when released. The game could have been huge if they waited until it was ready.
This is definitely something that needs to be broken up into categories.
For instance, I think WoW has arguably the most fluid combat and animations. And, I think that's the #1 reason the game has been thriving for so long.
That said, I would not label it as the best one I've ever played. There are different aspects some games excel in over others... I don't think there's a single game that I can label a "best overall".
UO because it felt like a world much more than anything since. That was entirely because of the lack of level groupings into zones and the player community in a fairly interesting world (if you looked for it).
So much has been done better in games that followed. WoW was a marvel in many ways. But that "world" feeling I got in UO, and the player social efforts like the Mage Tower, the Fishing Council, the Orcs, the players trying to decipher the Wisp language, the entirely player run auctions, player owned taverns, rare items collectors, so many things like that just went far beyond any other MMO and left everything else feeling like "just a game".
There's multiple... But those that really hold a place for m:
Legend of Mir - Both 2 and 3. This was my first MMO and I still play on private servers today. Great memories in this game, still in contact with lots of people from it. There's something about this game that no other game has really. Isometric, fast-paced aimed combat gameplay, open PK, years long grind (on official at least which is now down). I wish the Koreans would run is an updated western version, sadly it'll never happen.
Vanilla WoW pre-instanced PvP - First 3D (not isometric) MMO I ever played. Remember thinking "holy shit you don't lose anything when you die... This is for noobs". Then I got to Hillsbrad Foothills. Rammed with players, constant war, corpses everywhere. "Oh, now I understand". Loved that era of WoW. Started going downhill and took the whole genre with it with the addition of PvP instances.
Darkfall Online - Not UW. The experiences here actually surpassed my first MMO. Huge, fully populated world. Open PK full loot. Politics, mass wars, completely skill based and aiming... The list goes on. Nothing will match this game until 2020 or later. if only the devs were more competent, faster at releasing fixes and updates the game (and its sequel) may not of had such an ill fate.
Those 3 were the best for me. Others worth mentioning are DarkEden (very similar to Mir but with factions and horror theme, was very different in its time and I still hop on a private server although rarely) and Rohan: Blood Feud. Rohan was great, an open Lineage 2 style game that basically went P2W and added a bot to their cash shop. Played it from release for about a year.
Yeah. If there's any new-ish real MMOs that are currently released, please someone point me in the right direction because I've got that itch to play one again. When I say real MMO, I mean a world. Not a lobby based gear grind... An actual world please. There just isn't any. I remember back in the day thinking "Wow... What will the MMOs be like 10 years from now...". Well they've gone fucking shit, using the term as a marketing ploy to pull people into their heavily instanced lobby games where the only massive part about it is the town.
WHERE'S THE FUCKING MMO'S GONE!? Sometimes I wish I was never spoiled with Mir, Darkfall and pre-PvP-instance WoW. Wish I didn't know what an MMO really was so I could just enjoy the crap we have today, haha...
_________ Currently playing: Black Desert Korea (Waiting for EU)
Always hating on instances in MMOs! Open worlds, open PvP, territory control and housing please. More persistence, more fun.
Runescape. People tend to trash talk about the game but I'd like to give credit where credit's due. Many of today's generation of MMO gamers started off from Runescape. The game, in its own rights, was a decent one. It had offered me some unique experiences I've never quite found in any other MMO. The f2p/p2p system was more than reasonable and the content was diversified enough to keep you hooked. But that's more than a decade ago, every MMO I've tried since has disappointed me in some ways.
It's tough starting out on more open world sandbox games like runescape since not much out there gives anything even remotely close to the same level of player freedom.
WOW for everything but leveling. Leveling goes to SWTOR (first time through only), but I've never played TSW.
I hated the design(including art) of EQ, my friends played but I just couldn't be sucked into it for lots of reasons. All of which were corrected by WOW.
UO was on my radar but their horrible launch plus the sub price turned me off. At that point I was playing competitive Quake of all things. I think it's core design was too 'griefer' friendly to have won me.
SWG was definitely on my radar but the randomness of becoming a jedi and the lack of space combat kept me away. It simply wasn't ready for prime time when released. The game could have been huge if they waited until it was ready.
I loved the art of EQ. It was a bit blocky, but I preferred it's ideas of Trolls, Ogres, Elves, Half Elves, Humans, etc. to WoWs variant. I still enjoyed WoW and it's art work a lot, but WoW was like a kids fantasy game vs a teens/young adult fantasy game to me (art style wise). EQ was also much darker in many places. WoW had more polygons, brighter colors, better animations, and a more lighthearted feel. Strangely World 1 and 2 were pretty dark games by comparison to the 3rd and WoW. That's when the bright colors and child oriented content started to come into play. I also love D&D 2nd edition so I loved the EQ races/classes which mimicked it (copied?) closely.
UO and EQ are still my favorite, but it was a different time, different ideas, and the internet/MMOs were new for everyone. Something is almost always more fun when it is new ground for everyone partaking.
Everyone I've played had positive and negatives. If I played them for awhile it was because they all had parts I really enjoyed more then anything available at the time.
SWG, WoW, GW2 would be the ones I've put the most time into.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Comments
Let's play Fallen Earth (blind, 300 episodes)
Let's play Guild Wars 2 (blind, 45 episodes)
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
That's fighting talk. Alright you two its Lord British versus Jedi Master! May the best roleplayer win.
Why did I leave, my son stole my account hahah.
http://www.entropiapartners.com/?r=22415
The early days of EQ2 were also very good but the game ran horribly on most PCs.
Mostly played Lineage 2 (after the SWG nge nerf) for the seamless open world and diverse class quests.
From 2007 onwards most MMOs have been disappointments. EQ2 became my go to nostalgia MMO until 2012.
Currently playing Vindictus which isn't too bad. Has no open world but the combat is fun and the economy is largely player driven.
I hated the design(including art) of EQ, my friends played but I just couldn't be sucked into it for lots of reasons. All of which were corrected by WOW.
UO was on my radar but their horrible launch plus the sub price turned me off. At that point I was playing competitive Quake of all things. I think it's core design was too 'griefer' friendly to have won me.
SWG was definitely on my radar but the randomness of becoming a jedi and the lack of space combat kept me away. It simply wasn't ready for prime time when released. The game could have been huge if they waited until it was ready.
For instance, I think WoW has arguably the most fluid combat and animations. And, I think that's the #1 reason the game has been thriving for so long.
That said, I would not label it as the best one I've ever played. There are different aspects some games excel in over others... I don't think there's a single game that I can label a "best overall".
First PC Game: Pool of Radiance July 10th, 1990. First MMO: Everquest April 23, 1999
So much has been done better in games that followed. WoW was a marvel in many ways. But that "world" feeling I got in UO, and the player social efforts like the Mage Tower, the Fishing Council, the Orcs, the players trying to decipher the Wisp language, the entirely player run auctions, player owned taverns, rare items collectors, so many things like that just went far beyond any other MMO and left everything else feeling like "just a game".
Once upon a time....
Legend of Mir - Both 2 and 3. This was my first MMO and I still play on private servers today. Great memories in this game, still in contact with lots of people from it. There's something about this game that no other game has really. Isometric, fast-paced aimed combat gameplay, open PK, years long grind (on official at least which is now down). I wish the Koreans would run is an updated western version, sadly it'll never happen.
Vanilla WoW pre-instanced PvP - First 3D (not isometric) MMO I ever played. Remember thinking "holy shit you don't lose anything when you die... This is for noobs". Then I got to Hillsbrad Foothills. Rammed with players, constant war, corpses everywhere. "Oh, now I understand". Loved that era of WoW. Started going downhill and took the whole genre with it with the addition of PvP instances.
Darkfall Online - Not UW. The experiences here actually surpassed my first MMO. Huge, fully populated world. Open PK full loot. Politics, mass wars, completely skill based and aiming... The list goes on. Nothing will match this game until 2020 or later. if only the devs were more competent, faster at releasing fixes and updates the game (and its sequel) may not of had such an ill fate.
Those 3 were the best for me. Others worth mentioning are DarkEden (very similar to Mir but with factions and horror theme, was very different in its time and I still hop on a private server although rarely) and Rohan: Blood Feud. Rohan was great, an open Lineage 2 style game that basically went P2W and added a bot to their cash shop. Played it from release for about a year.
Yeah.
If there's any new-ish real MMOs that are currently released, please someone point me in the right direction because I've got that itch to play one again. When I say real MMO, I mean a world. Not a lobby based gear grind... An actual world please. There just isn't any. I remember back in the day thinking "Wow... What will the MMOs be like 10 years from now...". Well they've gone fucking shit, using the term as a marketing ploy to pull people into their heavily instanced lobby games where the only massive part about it is the town.
WHERE'S THE FUCKING MMO'S GONE!?
Sometimes I wish I was never spoiled with Mir, Darkfall and pre-PvP-instance WoW. Wish I didn't know what an MMO really was so I could just enjoy the crap we have today, haha...
_________
Currently playing: Black Desert Korea (Waiting for EU)
Always hating on instances in MMOs! Open worlds, open PvP, territory control and housing please. More persistence, more fun.
Del Cabon
A US Army ('Just Cause') Vet and MMORPG Native formerly of Trinsic, Norath and Dereth. Currently playing LOTRO.
UO and EQ are still my favorite, but it was a different time, different ideas, and the internet/MMOs were new for everyone. Something is almost always more fun when it is new ground for everyone partaking.
SWG, WoW, GW2 would be the ones I've put the most time into.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey