Looking for a balanced game...

Ragemaster

Hello, iv been in the market for a new mmo for some time now, and perhaps its time to consider options iv never thought about before.

First what I am looking for : I am looking for a game that has a mix of PVE and PVP systems, with neither one catered too over the other. Traditonally I am a pvper type of player, however, without PVE it would just be a fps...

Games that Iv really enjoyed in the past: Dark age of camelot pre TOA...  pvp in this game was team oriented and it had meaning... owning a castle and flying your guild banner over it while defending it from enemy nations created a true competative spirit that iv yet to find somewhere else.

Also PVE in old age daoc was not a big grind, and it didnt take a lifetime worth of effort to reach the competative side of pvp. So preferably I am looking for a game with PVE that is isnt too grindy to get past in order to reach the endgame. Grind definition may vary by player to player, but my definition of grind is having to get to level cap slowly and tediously before I can even start to think about PVP or other endgame content.

Other Games iv Enjoyed; Eve online, for its open world sandbox with balanced pvp and pve systems. PVP and PVE cannot live on their own in that game and interact in harmony. PVPers buy from PVERS and die, PVERS make new items to sell to pvpers. I not looking specifically for a sandbox, even a game with some sandbox elements would be interesting. A game with zero sandbox elements I would still be willing to try, provided it had both pve and pvp systems.

Everquest 1 , pre luclin: A game where you didnt really know where to go and what to do. There was sort of a mystery about it, and though it was primarly a PVE level based game, it truely felt like a living world. There was no hand holding, no quest logs, no linear zone progression. It was like living in an uncharted world and slowly exploring and moving your way up in a land rife with hardships. I really enjoyed Eq1 for its sense of wonder and exploration, especially since each race had their own little town, and there was really no fast travel methods such as griffins or airships. Dieing in the game also ment something, the sheer horror of running from the depths of blackburrow with a pack of angry gnolls hot on your heels and know if you died you would have to come back nakid to get your corpse ment that a death wasnt a simple thing to shake off. Players were forced to make smart choices, and sometimes if you died too much in one spot it was better to "cut your losses" and move on. The sense of wonder, exploration, and danger is one of the most gratifying things about this game, but do they still exsist ?

As far as graphics, P2p, F2p, learning curve, dont care. A game with a great interface and pretty graphics are a + in my opinion. Eves online interface one of the worst in the genre but did not stop me from becoming a competative pvper doing almost everything in the game in my 5 years of playing. A game with solid gameplay and amazing jawdropping graphics are a bonus, but if its a shallow buggy uninpired game no matter how much you dress it up its still poop on the inside.

Free to play vs pay to play,, im desperate to try anything now, including indie mmos and even non us mmos. I have traditonally only played P2p, but if theres a f2p game with a cash shop that doesnt skew the entire game up, aka pay to win OR  if I can play the game and spend around the equivilent of a p2p game and still be able to "make It" ill be more than willing to try it..

Grouping vs solo: A game with a combitination of both would be preferable. While soloing should be viable, it shouldnt be the point of the game. MMORPGS are massive multiplayer, and a emphasis on teamwork would be preferable to a solo quest grind. Not to say that i hate quest grind, but when people dont want to group because its faster to level solo, then I think theres a real problem. If i want to solo all the time, I will play Oblivion or fallout 3. MMORPGS imo are ment to play either competativley or cooperatively with other players.

Setting: I would prefer fantasy or medieval / low magic but ill give anything a try, including sci fi, cyberpunk, underworld, you name it.

Time investment: A game that doesnt take TOO much commitment to enjoy. One of my biggest gripes about eve, my longest played mmo ever (5 years) is that while the pvp and pve systems are excellent, sometimes waiting around for a fleet to engage was painful. 2 hours of waiting for 5 minutes of perpetual PVP bliss is what I am not looking for. My current college and retail work schedule permit me from "alarm clock ops" type of games. I want to be able to jump in at random times, even early AM est, find other players to do stuff with, you know - put in some hours here and there for 2-3 hours and log off, without some worrying about coming for scheduled pvp or pve events.

Lastely: I am looking for a game that is actully playable, as in open beta or released. While ill take a gander at any game in development, many of you are probably well aware that many mmorpgs dont always reach launch, or die soon after due to poor design mistakes. If a game hasnt yet crossed the finish line, its hard not be skeptical, afterall having your hopes dashed by overhype and the following dissapointing launch s a terrible experience i wont want to go thru again.

fire away: oh and sorry for writing so much, i really am that bored!~. Dont mind the typos and minor english mistakes, its 7 am and I have a splitting headache..  thank you in advance to anyone who actully reads it all.

punkrock

your better off playing daoc again like i am or waiting for terra or star wars the old repubic

Ragemaster

i was afraid you would say that. Doenst look like theres many types of those games around, they must be an endagered species.

How is the old ywain server holding up nowadays? I got a RR4 hunter laying about somewhere, but the whole TOA artifact and template building mumbo jumbo with all of the stat caps and whatnot really blew my mind and discourged me from playing the game.

Had a blast fighting other "scrubs" but fighting people with good temps it got old /releasing

Trying to get a sweet hunter template for NF was like trying to solve a rubix cube. And I hate puzzles.

KOTRO? Will that even have ground based objective open world pvp? TERA... have my eye on that one but like KOTRO iit wont be out for a while... which means I have a lot of boredom to look forward to. Probbaly should find a new hobby....

Sid_Vicious

Originally posted by Ragemaster

Hello, iv been in the market for a new mmo for some time now, and perhaps its time to consider options iv never thought about before.

First what I am looking for : I am looking for a game that has a mix of PVE and PVP systems, with neither one catered too over the other. Traditonally I am a pvper type of player, however, without PVE it would just be a fps...

Games that Iv really enjoyed in the past: Dark age of camelot pre TOA...  pvp in this game was team oriented and it had meaning... owning a castle and flying your guild banner over it while defending it from enemy nations created a true competative spirit that iv yet to find somewhere else.

Also PVE in old age daoc was not a big grind, and it didnt take a lifetime worth of effort to reach the competative side of pvp. So preferably I am looking for a game with PVE that is isnt too grindy to get past in order to reach the endgame. Grind definition may vary by player to player, but my definition of grind is having to get to level cap slowly and tediously before I can even start to think about PVP or other endgame content.

Other Games iv Enjoyed; Eve online, for its open world sandbox with balanced pvp and pve systems. PVP and PVE cannot live on their own in that game and interact in harmony. PVPers buy from PVERS and die, PVERS make new items to sell to pvpers. I not looking specifically for a sandbox, even a game with some sandbox elements would be interesting. A game with zero sandbox elements I would still be willing to try, provided it had both pve and pvp systems.

Everquest 1 , pre luclin: A game where you didnt really know where to go and what to do. There was sort of a mystery about it, and though it was primarly a PVE level based game, it truely felt like a living world. There was no hand holding, no quest logs, no linear zone progression. It was like living in an uncharted world and slowly exploring and moving your way up in a land rife with hardships. I really enjoyed Eq1 for its sense of wonder and exploration, especially since each race had their own little town, and there was really no fast travel methods such as griffins or airships. Dieing in the game also ment something, the sheer horror of running from the depths of blackburrow with a pack of angry gnolls hot on your heels and know if you died you would have to come back nakid to get your corpse ment that a death wasnt a simple thing to shake off. Players were forced to make smart choices, and sometimes if you died too much in one spot it was better to "cut your losses" and move on. The sense of wonder, exploration, and danger is one of the most gratifying things about this game, but do they still exsist ?

As far as graphics, P2p, F2p, learning curve, dont care. A game with a great interface and pretty graphics are a + in my opinion. Eves online interface one of the worst in the genre but did not stop me from becoming a competative pvper doing almost everything in the game in my 5 years of playing. A game with solid gameplay and amazing jawdropping graphics are a bonus, but if its a shallow buggy uninpired game no matter how much you dress it up its still poop on the inside.

Free to play vs pay to play,, im desperate to try anything now, including indie mmos and even non us mmos. I have traditonally only played P2p, but if theres a f2p game with a cash shop that doesnt skew the entire game up, aka pay to win OR  if I can play the game and spend around the equivilent of a p2p game and still be able to "make It" ill be more than willing to try it..

Grouping vs solo: A game with a combitination of both would be preferable. While soloing should be viable, it shouldnt be the point of the game. MMORPGS are massive multiplayer, and a emphasis on teamwork would be preferable to a solo quest grind. Not to say that i hate quest grind, but when people dont want to group because its faster to level solo, then I think theres a real problem. If i want to solo all the time, I will play Oblivion or fallout 3. MMORPGS imo are ment to play either competativley or cooperatively with other players.

Setting: I would prefer fantasy or medieval / low magic but ill give anything a try, including sci fi, cyberpunk, underworld, you name it.

Time investment: A game that doesnt take TOO much commitment to enjoy. One of my biggest gripes about eve, my longest played mmo ever (5 years) is that while the pvp and pve systems are excellent, sometimes waiting around for a fleet to engage was painful. 2 hours of waiting for 5 minutes of perpetual PVP bliss is what I am not looking for. My current college and retail work schedule permit me from "alarm clock ops" type of games. I want to be able to jump in at random times, even early AM est, find other players to do stuff with, you know - put in some hours here and there for 2-3 hours and log off, without some worrying about coming for scheduled pvp or pve events.

Lastely: I am looking for a game that is actully playable, as in open beta or released. While ill take a gander at any game in development, many of you are probably well aware that many mmorpgs dont always reach launch, or die soon after due to poor design mistakes. If a game hasnt yet crossed the finish line, its hard not be skeptical, afterall having your hopes dashed by overhype and the following dissapointing launch s a terrible experience i wont want to go thru again.

fire away: oh and sorry for writing so much, i really am that bored!~. Dont mind the typos and minor english mistakes, its 7 am and I have a splitting headache..  thank you in advance to anyone who actully reads it all.

With every single paragraph (besides the one about graphics) I thought to myself, 'This guy will love Darkfall.'

 

Your options are limited. Most MMORPGs these days cater to the general public . .. and the age of the average player seems to be decreasing each year or maybe I am just getting older. Darkfall has everything that you described but everyone turns there graphics way down for better performance and gameplay. Unfortunately you just have to deal with less graphics if you want a huge open no-instanced world. If graphics are truly important than you are stuck with the typical solo games, FPS, or a highly instanced MMORPG. You did mention that you liked Oblivion and so did I which was why I immediately liked Darkfall even though the UI made me want to kick myself in the face at first. The game, including its fully customizable UI, is truly amazing to me now. My GF plays this game for the PVE but I generally am more for the PVP.

 

In this game you will not be stuck with a class and will have only one character so you only go through development once. At any tme you can change your preference and play-style. Your hand is never held and there is no path drawn for you. Everyone's development will be a unique experience that is not being shared with other people at the same time in some other instance along the same planned out storyline . .. there is only one game like this one. Player-made cities/hamlets . .. conquoring villages to collect the playing-housing tax . .. naval warfare . ... FFA PVP . ... more freedom than any other game . .. dying matters because you drop everything that you are carrying . .. no auto-targeting with floating numbers and arrows pointing your way to the nearest NPC with a big floating exclamation point above his head . .. too many things that this game has done better than others not to try it. It may end up being your best MMO experience like it has been for me. Warning: it is hard but once you customize your controls and practice your moves until you get used to them it becomes much easier. PVP is not that often but when it happens the rush seems a lot stronger in this game. Eventually you will get to a point where you are at the edge of your seat fighting several people for a long time unable to make a slip or they will kill you and take your stuff. It may be a couple months before you go killing so many people that you are unable to loot everything.

 

I can only play this game about 10-20 hours a week pretty much but get in a couple hours daily sometimes and that has not hindered me. I felt that I was done with character developement about 6 months ago because I have to grind a lot more to use magic but I like to stick with archery/melee so I just havent bothered. I played it every night for a few hours the few months when it first came out about 5 days a week. I have pretty much totally avoided the grind but manage to do fine because I keep playing and learn from mistakes. Oh, I kept my computer running swimming AFK at night for HP a bit . .. that sucked. This last patch just gave everyone a huge HP boost so that's good though and a lot of people are coming back now because HP was the worst gap to have.

 

Only one way to find out . .. 14-day free trial. I must say that my first month was terrible compared to what I discovered later on.

www.darkfallonline.com

www.playdarkfall.com

player-made vids:

http://www.darkfallonline.com/contest/video/contests/1261490374/index.html

pizzieneri

Well to tell you the truth i ddint read all your words so so long, but i guess i will agree darkfall , AION, Atlantica online is good for your choice