I enjoyed GW2 PVE until all that was left to do was PVP, and I hate PVP. I'm currently playing SWTOR (had to try the expansion) but once you do all the quests there isn't much PVE left unless you group constantly and run instances which gets old. Plus I hate to have to wait on others to go PVE. I played LOTRO, WoW, EQ2. Looking for a solo friendly MMO, maybe something where crafting actually means something would be nice too.
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There is - what i recommend - World of Warcraft
Runescape
Runes of Magic
World of Tanks
Start with those tell me if you are still looking!
Pve mmo - first guess would be LotRO but you wrote you played it already
"Looking for a solo friendly MMO, maybe something where crafting actually means something would be nice too."
Maybe AoC? Great in pve, and has a decent crafting system (which will be revamped in the near future... ).
Or TSW, it has awesome missions and lore, very solo-friendly if you choose to, but also has group content with lots of fun. True, the crafting is pretty simple, on the other hand you can assemble almost anything with it.
Ever since the CU and then the NGE I've steered clear of them. I might try the next EQ game, but stilll not sure since it will be run by them. Me and SOE do not get along, kinda like oil and water.
I looked at a couple videos of Vanguard, the graphics look really, really old. Like fresh out of the days of DOS.
Forsaken world has some great PvE,and while the cash shop is pretty P2W in the PvP aspect, it is definitel NOT P2W in the PvE aspect. top level Tank here who spent 50 bucks in total, because i was lazy and wanted an epic looking mount. it has great dungeons starting at level 10, and new ones that mostly do different things up until max level. I had/have a lot of fun whenever I go back. I'd avoid PWE's other games like the plague (excluding Neverwinter, ihaven't tried it socant say)
I play MMOs for the Forum PVP
Vanguard is great, unfortunately it is so dead. Very large world and very unpopulated. Don't be weary of SOE because of CU/NGE....those decisions were actually on the Lucas Arts side. It would be difficult for you past 20/30 to solo effectively, tho can be done a lot easier than EQ back in the day. TSW is good but got stale for me. If you like a shooter RPG, go with Defiance. I am enjoying the hell out of that game currently.
If you are looking in the near future...keep an eye out on Dragon's Prophet. Bill Murphey just did a streamed session with a dev and it looks awesome! No PvP at launch (planned for first expansion). Very solable because of dragons. Emphasis on exploration and discovery, and seems like a solid dungeon system when you do want to group. Also a decent emphasis on crafting, perhaps more-so than most modern MMOs. Will be F2P, tho I will be subbing via station pass.
If I want a world in which people can purchase success and power with cash, I'll play Real Life. Keep Virtual Worlds Virtual!
Vanguard, EQ2, WOW, SWTOR
Vanguard is very DEAD... and game play is clunky. Time for it to go.
Enjoying PvE in EQ2 and SWTOR right now
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They have a tendancy to be heavy grind and heavy p2w. You could try the cryptic ones, they seem to have a little more going for them for the first month, but then you'll be looking at 6 months of grinding as your content.
You could try path of exile but not really an mmo and can't remember any crating(but didn't get very far).
You could try being a high sec carebear in eve.
DDO has been made more solo friendly over recent years.
Ryzom offers a sandbox pve experience, but(if I remember correctly) also quite a heavy grind and a small population.
Planeshift if you're into rping.
Uncharted waters could also be worth a shot, but I'm not sure how much pvp will become part of the 'endgame'.
Whilst I agree with your sentiments regarding soe, I'm giving vanguard another shot. As long as I can get away with paying soe little to nothing I'll see where i get to, but does seem to be very dull with no real character customisation past creation and not many people about.
I popped onto Rift the other night and was really dead , Argent RP server. Also I am a huge fan of STO unfortunately for me I found it very clunky on planet, and it doesnt seem to support SLI gfx , so my main gfx card was getting way to high. Same goes for TSW .
I would say for PvE games you cant get much better than WoW and Lotro , especially for solo . I cant comment on GW2 as I aint played it enough.
I found Swtor solo friendly only while levelling up, from there on its either ops ( same old boring ) , PvP ( also gets boring ) or dailies ....
Well I don't know how the US servers are doing, but the server I'm on (Icewatch (EU)) has a nice population and is pretty packed with level 60 people. The game may be doing worse in the US though(?).