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Can someone recommend a decent MMO for an old EverQuest player?
Nizumzen
Member UncommonPosts: 81
I've been out of the MMO world for quite a long time. I've played World of Warcraft and Elder Scrolls Online and while they are both good games I miss the community aspect of EverQuest. I like to interact with people when I play an MMO and I like to have people chatting in groups.
Can anyone recommend a good game for me? I don't mind if the game costs money as long as there is a nice community about it. I was thinking about trying out Shroud of the Avatar but I'm not sure if that is a good choice.
Can anyone recommend a good game for me? I don't mind if the game costs money as long as there is a nice community about it. I was thinking about trying out Shroud of the Avatar but I'm not sure if that is a good choice.
Answers
You can always go back to Everquest since it is still online.
Thanks for the reply though
Maybe give FF14 a try?
If you can find a good guild you should be good to go. But that also applies to every mmo, including the ones you already tried.
Never played EQ1 so I'm not sure how it will recapture that experience but here is my take:
PROS
-Extremely in-depth build customization.
-Community is very friendly, active roleplay communities. (In my experience).
-Leveling System is 4.5 stars IMO (Actualized stat gap between vet and noob is much lower than most MMOs due to XP costs, but there is no cap on any skill)
-Crafting system is above average. (Materials affect item properties and enchanting/masterwoking) is nifty)
-All items degrade to nothing over time. (Good for stat gap, good for economy.)
-Buy to play (No additional subscription fees beyond purchase)
CONS
-Graphics are meh
-Combat system is meh
-Questing system is meh
-Not much content beyond grinding and questing.
-Housing is very expensive.
-Game is a bit complex and will not be as fun if you don't understand it.
-Financial stability of publisher a bit uncertain.
I would recommend giving it a try and seeing what you think. Also hooking into a good guild early on and reading up on it extensively / asking a lot of questions.
I haven't played it in years though, so I have no clue how much has changed since.
The game was gorgeous and the dungeons/groups reminded me of EQ to a fair degree, but it was also incredibly linear.
Someone else could give a more up-to-date view of the game than I.
There is a good Vanilla World of Warcraft emulator that is well populated and TOTALLY stable too.
You still have EVE, however I could never get into it, but its popular.
If none of the above examples are of any interest, welcome to the club, were all in the same boat with watered down Games-on-line
With thousands of us are searching, and if you find something were missing, PLEASE LET US KNOW !
You can try the demo though.. but don't buy this game.
Good luck finding a game like EverQuest.
For now your best bet is FF 14 or TESO.
Good times looking for nostalgia...
Only you will be able to say if game X has what you are after but an alternative approach would be to try searching for the community first? Rather than trying a game and deciding its not got what you are looking for.
You mentioned you had tried ESO for example and I can easily appreciate how you might get the idea that there is no "community" and yet there is. You have to find the "active" guilds however and eventually the "right" one for you. (Remember in ESO big guilds can have 400+ active players which in the context of an old EQ1 server is huge; find 5 of them and you have an "old fashioned" servers worth of population. Unless you are in the guilds though all you will see is "empty" or "inconsequential" world chat. (Tip: campaign alliance vs. alliance guilds will usually have the best community.)
So - maybe - tackle the question by checking out "guilds" first. So if you were to look at LotR, nemtioned above, you could look here:
https://discordapp.com/channels/390521209013665794/390525023905120279
and
http://crickhollowkins.tumblr.com
Although I would say that this is only info for 1 LotR server, There are others. And it will be the same deal for other games.
Doesn't mean you will find what you are after right away but it might make it easier if you start a game with the aim of joing guild/clan/kin/etc X from day 1 - and if they don't deliver then several others - rather than asking in world chat that people may not be reading.
Hope you find what you are after.
SOTA is worth checking out. Most of the community are really into online houses and playing dress-up. The combat and content where decent, and so was the crafting. It has some annoyances people love like a Stonehenge like portal thing that is based on wasting everyone's time. But, if you are looking for an EQ type game you are probably into wasting time too so should love it.
Wildstar is an awesome game but leveling up is pretty fast. The high level community is pretty nice, especially to new players as they learn the ropes of the crazy dungeon mechanics they have.
FFIV - Its definitely slow like EQ1, but when I played the game expected you to grind out levels on multiple classes with no quests to help you. Just old school grinding, with very, very slow gameplay and confusing Anime cutscenes and just weird shit happening left and right in some type of super slow confusing Anime nightmare. Expect a lot of NPC cheering, using emoticons, making weird noises, slowly and dramatically blinking, while you have no idea why, etc. I don't know if anything has changed to speed up the gameplay, reduce the multi-class grind, or if they hired a psychologist to make the content more sane and understandable for adults or not.
DDO - Guilds are basically forced on you, and people enjoy grouping to level. It has HUB based quests in narrated dungeons. It isn't your standard mmorpg set-up.
LotRO - Semi-slow gameplay, very social game and community. I haven't played in a while so unless something has changed it has slowish leveling and a lot of levels. This may be your best bet if you aren't looking for something new. If you haven't checked out Wildstar that may be your best bet for a recent mmorpg, but it is sci-fi with extremely involved combat.
None of them have significant downtime between battles, nor waiting around in a big group waiting for a spawn all day while chatting. I would have listed AoC but it has a very top-heavy community and little to no grouping while leveling up (at least the last time I was leveling up a character).
I've been playing Vendetta Online for fifteen years and have developed a great sense of community there.
"The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online and 6 tracks in Distance
Community is where you find it. It is not game specific.
FFA Nonconsentual Full Loot PvP ...You know you want it!!
With that said, looking for the same, I've found my home in ESO. If you played this already when it first launched the game today in 2018 is totally different. One of the best features (for me) is the level scaling, which effectively allows you to go to any zone at any time with anybody. You have the traditional level experience 1-50, but you also have skills to progress (just like in EQ). After 50 you receive champion points (which is like Alternate Advancement) but doesnt go into the 10,000+ like AA do
In terms of differences it has a more casual feel and more quality of life features. Crafting is complex and useful. Combat can be a potential deal breaker due to the way its executed. Its not tab target like traditional MMOs but more "action-based" where if you don't aim at the target you will miss them. Its closer to GW2 (but better IMHO) if you have played that. Also roles are not restricted, but trinity of tank, healer, DPS exist. Its like elder scrolls where you can build whatever you want, but to compete in the hardest content Trials (like EQ Raids) you pretty much have to follow specific builds.
But what makes me log in everyday is the guilds and the community. For the most part (all games have their toxic assholes) people are friendly and helpful, which is great since there are so many different things to learn.
IMO ev1 should have at least at some point experienced FFXI,it has deep systems,it has everything albeit you missed the strong era of the game 5-10 years ago but you can still get a feel to better understand how little other games are offering you.
I own the game several times over but i play on private servers right now,you can still get a decent feel for how design of a mmorpg can differ.It educates a consumer as to how designs can differ and allows you to make better decisions before paying other devs for half assed games.
Yes you can as i do play for free ..."Darkstar servers"by free i mean no sub fees or ongoing costs of any kind,i simply own the game is all.Obviously the official sub fee servers have a much more robust game but FFXI is so big anyhow you'll never run out of things to do.
FFXIV as others have mentioned is also a "different" design than your use to,but does mimic EQ and Wow and FFXI,great graphics but imo weaker systems,weaker combat and weaker class design than FFXI.
I mention this because if you simply choose any other game "including pantheon" you are going to get same old been there done that and feel bored and waste your time.None of these other mmorpg's offer anything more than FFXI or FFXIV some similarities but no where near as complex and deep.EQ2 has imo the nicest housing system ,accessible by all but then again we are talking real money to buy those houses.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I feel you need to join a game in the beginning phase,ev1 is learning,ev1 talks,helps each other through the learning curve of the game.
In these early starts,people are excited,having fun,if you join an established game,those players tend to stick to themselves,selfish in their goals and imo the guild feeling loses it's luster by that point.
This is likely why you MIGHT get something out of Pantheon,if you simply seek a community/group feeling but imo the game won't be good enough but hey all the power to you,good luck.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.