Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
MMO for Mature Couple
TonySkullz
Member Posts: 5
Hey there everyone, my girlfriend and I are looking for suggestions for an MMO for us to play. We're in our early twenties and would prefer a game that has a more mature crowd (as opposed to games filled with young teenagers who typ lyk dis) and where we're likely to meet other couples in our age range. We're currently playing Megaten, but want a game that has a bit more substance (like housing, economy, unique customization, etc). We don't like games that are complete grindfests, and we don't want to play WoW or Aion.
If anyone could give us some suggestions and some info on why it might suit us we'd much appreciate it. If anyone needs us to elaborate on what we're looking for we'd be happy to, just didn't want to have a wall of text for this post if it wasn't needed.
Comments
For a "more mature audience" you'd have to look at P2P games. If you don't like a grind and no WoW, I'd suggest you can take a look at EverQuest II (Extended?) and Lord of the Rings online
I'd give Lord of the Rings Online a shot. It's f2p and has everything you mentioned. When I played it a lot of the players were mature and helpful of course that was back when it was subscription based. Not sure if f2p has changed that but even so, it's worth a look.
If you have patience, a decent gaming rig, and are willing to take it as is Vanguard might also be worth a try. Sadly a lot of people hate it because of an awful launch but it's somewhat stable now and has a tight knit, mature, and friendly community. Sub based though, but has a free trial.
Reizla
P2P games are fine, I don't expect our needs to be met with a F2P unless it's just extraordinary. Have any experiences with the games you mentioned that you think would make them suited for us?
Game community is something without objective measures.
Any game can have a 'mature' community because it is all about people you are surrounded by. That is something you can control to an extent by joining community group of your liking.
I have to second Gdem, its all about who you play with. WoW for example, catches alot of heat for being popular with younger and immature players, and I'm not doubting that. But it also has the largest absolute (as opposed to %) number of mature players as well, simply by virtue of its huge player base. And many boyfriend/girlfriend and husband/wife players as well.
Afraid I don't have much in the way of recommendations for you though. WoW has been the only MMO my wife has every really gotten into, though I myself have played nearly every p2p MMO of the past 10 years. If you don't mind F2P games, I can also suggest LotRO, it has nice 2 person content as you can randomly generate 2 person pve content skirmishes.
@ ;Logos1326
I'm downloading LOTRO now to give it a try, thank you for the info. My girlfriends rig isn't incredible so I don't think Vanguard will work for us if it demands power.
@ ;Gdemami
That's nice, but it's not really accurate nor a suggestion. If we both log into a game and the people around us and in the chats are all under the age of 17, you can safely say that game has an immature crowd of sorts. We aren't going to connect and enjoy the company of people half are age on a regular basis, therefor we want a game where we'd be most likely to find other couples and people in our age group.
That's nothing against young teens and others playing games, I play online games with people of all ages and make no discrimination. But, when I'm playing together with my girlfriend I'd rather be somewhere where we're more likely to find people we can connect with who are playing games together like we do.
Logos1326
Logos1326
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes would be my suggestion, lots to do (housing, crafting, social minigame) ontop of your everyday fantasy monster slaying and quests and great community!
edit: Vanguard used to require a massive powerhouse to play, but they've since optimized the engine ALOT better, so it should run decently on mediocre computers afaik.
You should try FFXIV it might be what your looking for.
For some reason when I read the thread title, I got the impression you were a couple of senior citizens looking for a new MMO, not a couple in your early 20s. Not that it would change much. You'd just be likely to have more time on your hands.
Anyway, I'll second the suggestions of EQ2, LotRO and Vanguard as games with a lot of substance and mature audiences.
If you want something a bit more unique, give The Saga of Ryzom a go. The only downside to this game is that the community is tiny and you may have to actively seek out people to play with. They're certainly a friendly and helpful bunch, though.
Also, if you don't mind dated looking games, Star Wars Galaxies and Anarchy Online are great options both for friendly, mature communities and substance.
If you want a more detailed reasoning for the recommendations, it would probably be a good idea to state a more detailed list of preferences, or a list of games you've tried and why you liked/disliked them.
One way or another I'd say LOTRO or maybe EVE or FF XI(FF XIV has horrendous rig requirements) would be a good idea to try. Those games have strong and helpful communities.
try Anarchy Online it is pretty involved
Vanguard give it a look i believe it has a 14 day trial.
MAGA
I've played LotRo for a couple of years and enjoyed it a lot, till I entered Moria. Somehow Moria was just not my cup of tea. The game is very solid, excellent quests and if you like Tolkien (the books or the movies), I think you'll find the game awesome! One bad thing though. Through the years LotRo has become more and more a solo game in the lower levels. Up to 40 or so you there's no real need for a party, but if you play with your partner, I think you can speed things up and take up some harder monsters and area's as well.
EveryQuest II is one I'm playing right now. Solid game with good stories that take along a lot of jokes as well. Though leveling in EQ2 isn't as fast as in LotRo, I think you might enjoy it a lot as well. Aside from the "ever questing" part, it also has a good crafting system (one of the best I've come across), and character / skill customization is (in my opinion) excellently done, actually a lot better than in LotRo.
Since both games are F2P these days, I'd say download them both and give them a try ;-) If you decided to stick with EQ2, my advice is to buy the box and subscribe (it's a lot cheaper than EQ2X if you play it longer than 6 months). Then one of you can give a trial-key to the other, subscribe then as well, and one of you gets some extra goodies as well (including a mount).
It is perfectly accurate and the only suggestion that can be given to you and be helpful. Picking a game by it's community is silly for reasons already pointed out.
I assume you did not get the message when I was saying that it is you who can fairly well control what your company in the game be like.
RolliJoe got it right, WoW has the most mature players in the industry so you can as well be heading there.
If I had to pick a game for you, I would be considering a game that could be in my opinion attractive for female audience, which is a type of games I have very little interest in and thus cannot name any apart from WoW, sorry.
I think this depends a lot on how you socialize in online games. If you tend to find a guild of likeminded people and ignore the rest of the people on the server unless you need something from them, then the general community doesn't matter. Just game mechanics, and the people you choose to play with. If you like pick up groups, events, and participating in global chat channels, then the general maturity of the community matters more than the individuals.
Same here, except that my wife started with LoTRO, got bored with the (very limited) end-game content and then moved to WoW.
I would not recommend LoTRO then, especially as it is now F2P.
I would say Ryzom instead, for several reasons:
- Community is mature: the game is P2P and the UI as well as the game mechanisms are not child-friendly.
- Player interaction is rich, driven by hunting groups, good exchange, RP events, PvP and politics - which involve factions, nations and guilds.
- Economy is mainly based on crafted good exchange: best gears are player crafted. There are also specific goods from PvP outposts.
- Resource gathering system is the deepest in the MMO world afaik: if that game was class-based, resource gathering would be one class by itself. You can even gather resources as a couple - one can reveal and heal the sources when the other extracts.
- Housing has been enhanced: you can now decorate your home and invite friends.
On the other hand, leveling is mainly a grind, whether it is fighting, resource gathering or crafting skills.
This is by design, as characters have no limit in terms of leveling: you can max everything if you want to spent the time.
However the grind is somewhat softened by the fact Atys (Ryzom's planet) is a living world.
All mobs are living. They move in a rather big area, fight each others - carnivores hunting herbivores - and can even migrate depending on the season.
Yes, there are seasons in the game. Which impact mob location as well as resource availability.
Finally it is cheap - half the usual sub - and is then worth a try I think.
I like how you just out-right assume you're 100% correct. It's even funnier considering it's a game suggestion thread and you didn't suggest any games but rather attacked our preferences and called it the only helpful suggestion possible.
Zyonne summed up above how we feel on the matter pretty well.
I have 3 suggestions
Lord of the Rings Online : Has a good community, not really a grind unless your going for traits to improve character stats and gameplay is enjoyable.
Age of Conan : only downside i see for you is that it might not run on your girlfriends rig.
Star Wars Galaxies : People will blast me for saying this one but it is still a good game, specially if you didn't know the game before november 2005. Pick the right server and community is good (try to avoid Starsider as thats too heavilly populated and many mention huge lag issues), it's got good gameplay, Legacy storyline makes it less of a grind and there's more than just fighting to do.
I am not attacking anyone and you are free to point out mistakes in my reasoning.
Zyonne isn't saying anything else I am. You have to options:
1) You complain and be dissatisfied by game community.
2) You actively do something to avoid matters you cannot change or influence.
I guess you made your choice. Speaks for the maturity you seek out as well as your own...
However, good luck with you pick.
I asked for a game that people can vouch for having the certain features we'd like and that would be the most likely for us to meet people that we'd get along with. Several people have voiced their opinion on what games they found to be fit for us and why, you're the only person saying the preference is illogical and that we're immature for assuming otherwise.
Also, if you think what Zyonne posted was the same point you were making, you're crazy.
Here's my suggestion to the OP, and bear in mind it comes from a 60 years old veteran of MMO's who shares the OP's dlslike for the immature playerbase that is found in some games (but not always in those games - I have had no such problems playing WoW on a European PvE server, for example, but wouldn't dream of playing it on a US PvP server):-
EQ2 Live. I specifically advise against the Extended F2P version because the chat channels and character names live down to the reputation of a good many F2P games. It is possible to limit the exposure to such things by enabling only the auction channel and disabling the level 1-9 channels (those being the unofficial global channels) but you'll still be struck by the different in the maturity of the playerbase if you play on Live. EQ2 offers all the things the OP is looking for and is a highly polished game these days. Well worth a go.