What game to play for an altoholic?

Lord.Bachus · August 2018

Here i am, played all MMOs out there..
thats because i am an altoholic...
i enjoy learning new skills on a character...
and/or trying out or creating new builds...
and i enjoy a good story, don't even mind if its linear...
but what i miss with all the jumping around from character to character
is a roleplayerish character immersion

i don't mind endgame, but its not my main goal...
i also enjoy a casual PvP match, from time to time..
i can both enjoy tab targetting as well as more fps style games..
but in the end i prefer games with more tactical and strategical depth,
which in general are those games where you have a multitude of skills..

i also love good and fun dungeon runs, i don't mind pugs,
i see them as an extra challenge and a way to meet new people..
so i really enjoy a dungeonfinder like in WoW...

there is one disadvantage from jumping from game to game...
i miss belonging to a community.. a good guild that helps eachother

so its about time to choose a game, i can stick to for a longer periode of time..
i have a pretty good idea of my options..
nevertheless i want to hear your opinions based on my situation...

gipfeli · August 2018

isometric view is not your cup of tea i suppose?

if you don't mind isometric view path of exiles would probably fit all your needs...

Cryomatrix · August 2018

I agree with PoE. Play in HC mode only and you will love it.

Po_gg · August 2018

Lord.Bachus said:

i enjoy learning new skills on a character...
and/or trying out or creating new builds...

A few months ago (before July) the obvious answer was CO. A large part of the game is making new characters and trying out new stuff. Both the "looks" part as well the "skill setup" part on the character building is totally flexible, and if you were a subscriber the game gave you a new character slot every time you reached the cap with a character. You could start a new idea right away, if you're a player like me and "i don't mind endgame"

Unfortunately in July there was an update and they've removed the sub option, with it the free character slots at cap. Also they've limited the character slots at 100... considering that quite a handful of veteran players have more than 100 alts, they were pretty much screwed with the change.

But of course 100 is still a pretty high number compared to other games' character slot limits and prices. The 9th anniversary will start soon, a nice time to give it a try Bachus

the huge cake there is not a lie.

JackieRyder · August 2018

Puzzle pirates, its actually a great game, doesnt really have a story but the alts are huge in that game

TheDarkrayne · August 2018

The only MMO I continuously play is LOTRO. I get fed up of everything else eventually so it's the only one I can recommend to anyone wanting a long term option.

Best immersion due to world design and music, best community, PvP can be good, especially Monster Play (it's a whole different game), but it's not the main focus. Loads of skills, diverse specs and proper meaningful skill trees. Takes many people over 1000 hours to do all the levelling content since it's bloody huge. Probably the best story in any MMO, makes a familiar story we all know even better.

The ftp model can be daunting but if you just sub 1 month and buy the quad expansion pack once you get to level 50, you're good to go. If you're an achievement hunter and don't mind killing lots of mobs you can earn tons of free store points passively.

If you don't mind the dated character models (which aren't even bad once you get them in the latest armor), I think it's a good option to consider. At least you can jump in for free to get a feel for it again.. I'm sure you've played it before.

Po_gg · August 2018

If I remember right, Bachus played LotRO in the past, and it is a good pick for altoholics (I personally have several dozens of characters), but you have to spread over on servers. True, with this CO limit now you can have technically more alts in LotRO (buy slots until you have 11, and that in practice means 110 slots over the 10 servers), but it is still "just" 11 alts at once.

Since he asked for altoholism specifically, I'd stick with CO (even if I'm more a LotRO fanboy

)

AlBQuirky · August 2018

Po_gg said:

If I remember right, Bachus played LotRO in the past, and it is a good pick for altoholics (I personally have several dozens of characters), but you have to spread over on servers. True, with this CO limit now you can have technically more alts in LotRO (buy slots until you have 11, and that in practice means 110 slots over the 10 servers), but it is still "just" 11 alts at once.

Since he asked for altoholism specifically, I'd stick with CO (even if I'm more a LotRO fanboy )

Is "CO" Champions Online? (Just making sure

)

Does Warframe count? You get only one character, but the frames are many and varied. You take time leveling up your warframes and weapons individually and switch out between them on your ship. The frames emulate the differing ways to go through a game, like sneaky or balls-to-the-walls, or anything in between.

If you're looking for different strategy builds, this could fit, though it is just one character

TheDarkrayne · August 2018

Po_gg said:

If I remember right, Bachus played LotRO in the past, and it is a good pick for altoholics (I personally have several dozens of characters), but you have to spread over on servers. True, with this CO limit now you can have technically more alts in LotRO (buy slots until you have 11, and that in practice means 110 slots over the 10 servers), but it is still "just" 11 alts at once.

Since he asked for altoholism specifically, I'd stick with CO (even if I'm more a LotRO fanboy )

He's actually saying he doesn't want to hop characters anymore, I think?

.. or at least that he wants stick with one game. Even if he was alting, you earn more free store points in LOTRO that way so.. it pays off.

Albatroes · August 2018

GW2? ESO?

Lord.Bachus · August 2018

Po_gg said:

If I remember right, Bachus played LotRO in the past, and it is a good pick for altoholics (I personally have several dozens of characters), but you have to spread over on servers. True, with this CO limit now you can have technically more alts in LotRO (buy slots until you have 11, and that in practice means 110 slots over the 10 servers), but it is still "just" 11 alts at once.

Since he asked for altoholism specifically, I'd stick with CO (even if I'm more a LotRO fanboy )

I still play on and off lotro.. great game..
surprisingly enough its the only game i dont alt..
thats because i like the gameplay of the warden so much..
playing anything else in lotro then my hobbit warden just feels unnatural to me...

still with every new part they add to the story, i will keep returning to this game, no matter what..

Lord.Bachus · August 2018

Albatroes said:

GW2? ESO?

Both are on my short list....

- GW2
- ESO
- WoW

but currently FF14, from which i played the free trial a few months ago, is on top of my list...
i think it pretty much triggers all the above,..
and espescially that you can do all jobs on a single character seems very promissing to me...

yet the single jobs of FF14 do not offer a lot of freedom anymore, they pretty much all seem to play as intended... where both GW2 as ESO offer quite a lot of freedom in building your own character as you want it... and both have lots of story... but i dont think them to be very alt friendly compared to FF14...

Scorchien · August 2018

Vanguard .................ohh wait .... n/vm

oh but ya know all jokes aside, Im not an alt person generally but Vanguard i loved the classes and starter areas, another that i enjoyed in that regard is DAOC , great game still for the altoholic

FromZeroToMinus1 · August 2018

Dofus. although subscription based, the monthly fee is low enough to warrant multiple accounts to play with several alts at once. while i havent played for a long time, it is easily one of the best games ive come across. it has housing, breeding dungeon, pvp etc. a very overlooked game.

At one time i was running 15 alts on three different accounts

Margrave · August 2018

AdventureQuest3D?

Lokero · August 2018

It depends a lot on which combat system you like best, honestly.

Definitely FF14 if you want to do it all on one character. Slower-paced, old-school combat system. I haven't played this game since closer to launch, so I don't have an up-to-date view on it. This game has some of the best and most immersive environments and details. The linear, invisible-walled zones kind of drove me crazy though.

GW2 if you want lots of variety across multiple alts. Action/Tab hybrid. Lots of dodging around, often to the point of being annoying. Really good character diversity, though. Each class has many different playstyles/abilities.
People either love or hate GW2, usually. Their last expansion really made the combat kind of ridiculous though. It's just non-stop aoe spam everywhere(red circles covering your screen) that you have to dodge endlessly.

And, of course, if you want something more ARPG-ish, there's PoE, etc.

Amathe · August 2018

The only game where I ever enjoyed playing alts (besides CoH, which is gone) is SWTOR. Every character has a story. Every character has an NPC companion, who also has a story. SWTOR is the only game I ever played where I reached max level on more than one character.

WarWitch · August 2018

Swtor all classes for the storie. D2 all classes for the story. Gw2 for the classes and easy endgame gear. COH and COV If we only could. SWG best ever and gone poof

. Like 42 classes and u could any combo of 2 and 1/2 classes. It was totally amazing. Eso story is good.

TheDarkrayne · August 2018

Lord.Bachus said:

Albatroes said:

GW2? ESO?

Albatroes said:

GW2? ESO?

Both are on my short list....

- GW2
- ESO
- WoW

but currently FF14, from which i played the free trial a few months ago, is on top of my list...
i think it pretty much triggers all the above,..
and espescially that you can do all jobs on a single character seems very promissing to me...

yet the single jobs of FF14 do not offer a lot of freedom anymore, they pretty much all seem to play as intended... where both GW2 as ESO offer quite a lot of freedom in building your own character as you want it... and both have lots of story... but i dont think them to be very alt friendly compared to FF14...

GW2 is actually the most alt friendly in your list. Achievements are account wide, all of them. Ascended gear is all account bound. All collectibles are account wide. You get tons of level tomes so you can max level other characters whilst playing another.

You can change your main in about 1 minute in GW2.

FFXIV is the least alt friendly.. because there is literally no point in having another character at all since you can be everything on one.

Margrave · August 2018

There is so much great information in this thread!

Quizzical · August 2018

Champions Online is probably the most alt-friendly MMORPG I've played. The point of the game is largely about playing a bunch of characters and trying different builds. The game's content is just something you can try out your latest build on.

I've also enjoyed playing a lot of alts in Guild Wars 1 and 2, Neverwinter, Tree of Savior, and Elsword. Those last two are good games that may not have been on your radar.

As for what some others have said, Puzzle Pirates was a fun game, but not really one for alts.

WoW lets you play a lot of alts, but if you're an altoholic, you'll be locked out of the endgame, while most players you could group with are trying to rush to the endgame. That's not ideal, but if you like the lower level content, go ahead.

FFXIV really isn't that alt friendly. Even if you count playing all classes on a single character as a lot of alts, the problem is that your first class or two can play through properly, and then for the rest, the story content is gone and you just have a bunch of grinding.

Quizzical · August 2018

Amathe said:

The only game where I ever enjoyed playing alts (besides CoH, which is gone) is SWTOR. Every character has a story. Every character has an NPC companion, who also has a story. SWTOR is the only game I ever played where I reached max level on more than one character.

If you don't like to play alts, that's fine, but you probably wouldn't have a good read on what makes a game alt-friendly.

Octagon7711 · August 2018

GW2, I have at least one of every class. They're philosophy was that leveling should be a major grind. The game drops more leveling scrolls then any game I've ever played. So after your first character the others go faster.

ESO, I have all classes as leveling is very easy. Lots of variety as the factions zones are unlocked so just like with GW2 you can port to different faction areas to level for a change of pace. Lots of DLC and expansion content to level through.

Aion, I have nearly every class. They don't have enough slots for every class and some classes are much easier to level then others.

STO, very alt friendly and a must if you want the class story for every faction.

SWTOR, Most of the class stories are worth playing. A bit of a grind unless they do a double XP week or something like that.

RoTRO, good for alts and their stories.

Skyforge, You play one character and switch classes with that one character. You can have a second character by having one on N.A. servers and one on U.E. servers.

WoW, I have a ton of alts in this game. Haven't played it in awhile.

Lots of others. I've found most MMO's are alt friendly some take longer then others to level to max. It would probably be shorter to list the ones that aren't alt friendly.

Scot · August 2018

what MMO to play for players who cannot start a sentence with a capital letter? if you find one do tell.

cheyane · August 2018

Another vote for Path of Exile.

Scot · August 2018

Modern MMOs are not made for alters, that is simply too hard, involves too much time for todays easymode co-op MMO play. You want something from the past, where a new character could start in a different zone, one other races would only visit to see the sights.