I make no apologies for unashamedly voting with my great raiding memories - WoW Wrath of the Lich King. Others have come near, but those times are still head and shoulders above everything else.
Wow, this made me realize that the only game I've played where the expansions had any impact on me was EQ2. Ever since I either haven't played a game long enough to see an expansion, the expansion content is out of reach, or it's just inconsequential. I did really enjoy the EQ2 expansions though.
Not MMOs, but I think the two most impactful expansions for me were D2: LoD and D3: RoS.
Guild Wars - Factions (Cantha): This brought new and
interesting pvp modes, classes, and pve. The story was amazing with a
completely new sort of atmosphere. It took the green item concept first
introduced with Sorrow's Furnace (probably the second coolest update)
and made them widespread.
The one good thing about this thread is that is has me re-downloading LOTRO to check out how far it has come. I haven't played it since the first six months it was out. First time I'm hearing from several people that Mines of Moria was a good expansion.
:waving: Now that you have AoC uninstalled maybe you'll find a new get-to game in LotRO. Moria was good but true, it had both positive and negative comments back in the days, like @Torval writes before. It brought a generic (but back then a more common) endgame grind mechanic, and also many people disliked the underground setting. It was a large, 10 levels long (from 50 to 60) area, all the way in caves and mines and tunnels under the mountain And while it has some of the best vistas in game (dwarves have a cool style of underground halls and massive open areas), it was a relief when finally you could see the sunlight again on the eastern side. There were even walkthroughs for how to "skip" Moria, a.k.a running through it with the least amount of time But it was a great expansion. I love the warden's gambit system... (which is similar to AoC's melee btw, using combos instead of "plain" skills)
A hint, if you want a smooth fun, go with the subscription, at least for the first month... the f2p model is cool, but has its tricks and stuff, you need to work with / around it. As a fresh (re-)starter, sub is better until you're back on track. Also, the first big Update of 2016 will go live next week, with a raised level cap and later a new raid - but you won't see that in a few months anyways
I really gotta disagree with WotLK. It was the beginning of WoW's easy mode. While yes the Arthas fight was difficult, it was the only difficult one where everything else could be burned down as a DPS race.
Best Expansion in my books. actually will be taken by Burning Crusade. Given that from time to time i still hit up the free servers that are frozen at TBC when that itch returns.
Because i can. I'm Hopeful For Every Game, Until the Fan Boys Attack My Games. Then the Knives Come Out. Logic every gamers worst enemy.
I liked EQ Velious myself, but Kunark was a good one too and I could just as easily go with that. I probably spent the most time in Planes of Power though, that was a huge expansion. Lately the expansions in EQ flip flop between one of two basic models, and don't really introduce anything new - just bigger numbers. The game has been stagnant for way to long.
I always felt that each expansion removed something from WoW.
FFXIV Heavensward I absolutely loved as well - idk if I would put it up there with Velious/Kunark, but it's close.
Wrath of the Lich King is where i enjoyed WoW the most with probably best PvP WoW had, next best PvP wow had was in Vanilla, but then there was no Arena. Lineage C4 is where the game was at its best. Other memorable expansions i can't remember, i just know that exactly the expansions after these 2 are what ruined Lineage and World of Warcraft.
Shrouded Isles for DAOC has always been a personal favorite for me.
Same here, I still have screenshots on an old drive of my first Valewalker, from SI launch day on Mordred. Level 10 pvp massacre in Mag Mell, those were the glory days.
For EQ1, a lot of people will say Kunark, Velious or Luclin. These were true extensions to the basic game. Fewer people will probably say Planes of Power, because it started the trend towards the game being a raid-oriented game. All of these had significant features and distinctive advances that helped grow the game.
For me, I'd suggest Lost Dungeons of Norrath as one worthy of being called 'the best expansion'. It was almost a self-contained expansion, accessible to everyone. The gear was good, helping to span the growing gap between the 'casual' and 'raiding' play styles. The lore was interesting, giving players a reason to return to some original zones. There was no contention for spawns (and the politics that was growing around the open-world nature) -- this expansion introduced wide-scale instanced zones to EQ. This expansion did a lot to encourage players to return. It was fun. It was fast. It was group-oriented.
Later expansions reverted to the PoP-style mindset, trying to build content for casuals and for raiders. But never really as intertwined as LDoN had shown it could be.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
AO was my all time favorite MMORPG. (Until the item shop) But as for the SL expansion? Not so much. It was fun, I enjoyed it, and it has some of the best quest (True quest) arks I've ever enjoyed in an MMO. But the overall Theme didn't really fit as an extension of the rest of the game. It's almost like they took 2 different game concepts and slammed them into AO.
Otherwise I vote WoW's Burning Crusade or EQ's Scars of Velious.
I was thinking CoV as well; tough for CoX to get a look in of course since the rest of its "expansions" - up until it closed - were "just" content drops.
EQ Kunark and Velious. The sheer quality and amount of content they produced in such a short time has, to this day, never been emulated. Now you can only hope for a fraction of what EQ expansions offered while waiting no less than 3x as long.
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
AO was my all time favorite MMORPG. (Until the item shop) But as for the SL expansion? Not so much. It was fun, I enjoyed it, and it has some of the best quest (True quest) arks I've ever enjoyed in an MMO. But the overall Theme didn't really fit as an extension of the rest of the game. It's almost like they took 2 different game concepts and slammed them into AO.
I totally agree with it not really fitting the theme of Rubi-Ka, but for me, it made it that much better. The only thing I didnt agree with that they did was make it MUCH more lucrative to play in SL than in Rubi-Ka.
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
Otherwise I vote WoW's Burning Crusade or EQ's Scars of Velious.
I was thinking CoV as well; tough for CoX to get a look in of course since the rest of its "expansions" - up until it closed - were "just" content drops.
While there's no "thread first" race, I call dibs on CoV, I said it first A agree, if it counts (and why not?) then it wins, hands down. There are several expansions listed with new mechanics, "extended the game by 30%", etc., but none of them doubled the base game and offered a whole new game on itself Not to mention the quality, Mastermind was better than any counterpart from CoH for example.
(on a second thought, I wrote LotRO's Moria above, and I don't like pvp, and it wasn't even an expansion, but when LotRO added PvMP that was similar to CoV's arrival. Just with a smaller game zone. New classes, new gameplays, questlines for the creep side, and as separate from the real game as possible - can't play it without the base game like CoV, but besides that creepside is an own game.)
Comments
Not MMOs, but I think the two most impactful expansions for me were D2: LoD and D3: RoS.
WTH!! WTH!! WTH!!
glad someone took the bait
I think the best expansion hands down was Burning Crusade
Otherwise I vote WoW's Burning Crusade or EQ's Scars of Velious.
Now that you have AoC uninstalled maybe you'll find a new get-to game in LotRO.
Moria was good but true, it had both positive and negative comments back in the days, like @Torval writes before. It brought a generic (but back then a more common) endgame grind mechanic, and also many people disliked the underground setting. It was a large, 10 levels long (from 50 to 60) area, all the way in caves and mines and tunnels under the mountain
And while it has some of the best vistas in game (dwarves have a cool style of underground halls and massive open areas), it was a relief when finally you could see the sunlight again on the eastern side.
There were even walkthroughs for how to "skip" Moria, a.k.a running through it with the least amount of time
But it was a great expansion. I love the warden's gambit system... (which is similar to AoC's melee btw, using combos instead of "plain" skills)
A hint, if you want a smooth fun, go with the subscription, at least for the first month... the f2p model is cool, but has its tricks and stuff, you need to work with / around it. As a fresh (re-)starter, sub is better until you're back on track. Also, the first big Update of 2016 will go live next week, with a raised level cap and later a new raid - but you won't see that in a few months anyways
Best Expansion in my books. actually will be taken by Burning Crusade. Given that from time to time i still hit up the free servers that are frozen at TBC when that itch returns.
Because i can.
I'm Hopeful For Every Game, Until the Fan Boys Attack My Games. Then the Knives Come Out.
Logic every gamers worst enemy.
I always felt that each expansion removed something from WoW.
FFXIV Heavensward I absolutely loved as well - idk if I would put it up there with Velious/Kunark, but it's close.
NGE? (hahaha)
Lineage C4 is where the game was at its best.
Other memorable expansions i can't remember, i just know that exactly the expansions after these 2 are what ruined Lineage and World of Warcraft.
For me, I'd suggest Lost Dungeons of Norrath as one worthy of being called 'the best expansion'. It was almost a self-contained expansion, accessible to everyone. The gear was good, helping to span the growing gap between the 'casual' and 'raiding' play styles. The lore was interesting, giving players a reason to return to some original zones. There was no contention for spawns (and the politics that was growing around the open-world nature) -- this expansion introduced wide-scale instanced zones to EQ. This expansion did a lot to encourage players to return. It was fun. It was fast. It was group-oriented.
Later expansions reverted to the PoP-style mindset, trying to build content for casuals and for raiders. But never really as intertwined as LDoN had shown it could be.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
It's go time.
I would like to say City of Villains but that was not a true expansion imo. So: The Ruins of Kunark.
ON A PER GAME BASIS:
DOAC: The Shrouded Isles (ToA was the game killer for that game)
SWG: NGE IS THE BEST. Killed the game for you guys!! hahahaha
WOW: TBC
Arcade Games:
Pacman: Ms Pacman
Phoenix: Pleiades
Pong: hockey
Food:
Twinkies: Chocodiles
Hot celebrities:
Goldie Hawn: Kate Hudson
Susan Sarandon: Eva Amurri
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
A agree, if it counts (and why not?) then it wins, hands down. There are several expansions listed with new mechanics, "extended the game by 30%", etc., but none of them doubled the base game and offered a whole new game on itself
(on a second thought, I wrote LotRO's Moria above, and I don't like pvp, and it wasn't even an expansion, but when LotRO added PvMP that was similar to CoV's arrival. Just with a smaller game zone. New classes, new gameplays, questlines for the creep side, and as separate from the real game as possible - can't play it without the base game like CoV, but besides that creepside is an own game.)