Hi guys, So I've been involved with mmo's since before mmorpg's existed.
I've played or passed over ever AAA for the past 20 years and don't have one specific game type that I favor. If the game is good, I like it, if the game isn't fun, I don't like it. Purely subjective but that's true for all of us.
I'll talk about things I like, but I'm not set in stone with anything, so long as the game is fun, I'll play it.
I hate restrictions. If I have 40 or 50 hours a week to play a game, don't punish me by only letting me do things once a week, or filling my quota until my timer is up, I hate that. Let me play to my hearts content without your restrictions because I do play 40 or 50 or even more when I'm into a game.
I like rpg's that allow me to assign xp and make character builds. I know this isn't truly a staple of mmorpg's anymore. Now you just pick between some choices and its very watered down. I prefer assigning attributes, skill points, things that actually gimp a character or min max him to hero status. It's hard to find in modern games.
I like community interaction. I like coming to town and there's a conversation going. It doesn't have to be a community where people are getting together to go achieve a quest or raid, that's great, but really I want to be able to come back from grinding/questing/raiding and have a place to unwind and talk about anything and everything game or non game related. That doesn't mean I want to solo then come back and chat, I want to be able to do that, but I prefer playing as a team with people. I want a game that allows me to do both, be a social butterfly, play with people/make friends in game and go solo when i'm not in the mood to deal with folks.
I like large scale pvp, rvr, gvg, and while I am competitive and have done the arena's in games, it's not fun for me. It's more like work, trying to get your rating up. I prefer large scale where politics matter, where you have to make friends the help defeat your enemies. Where there is something to loose, and something to win, an ultimate goal regardless of your pvp rating. So while I'm not anti pvp, I do like games that are pve/pvp by choice more then just pve, or forced pvp. Shadowbane was one of my favorites of all time, while it was forced pvp, it was a great game so I'm not locked in to one rule set or the other, again so long as its fun.
I do like graphics, I will play older graphics if the game is fun, but I spend a lot of money on my machine, having to settle on older graphics is a kick in the nuts.
I hate f2p and everything it stands for. Unfortunately I know that I have no choice but to suffer through it. If there are sub games I prefer those, but we all know they don't exist anymore.
Finally, I've not been involved and a good mmorpg for over a year. I feel like nothing worth my investment in time has been released. I log on every day and do the run down on new games, old games, what people are playing and nothing says "dude play this game!!!" I'm not burnt out on playing games, I'm burnt out on waiting for anything good enough to invest in, I still can't find one to turn me on. I'm tired of the single player games I need the competition and cooperation of an MMORPG.
I'm not going to list the games I've already played. Truth is it's almost all of them. If I do then they wont be suggested, and I may be up for going back to one and playing it again on a suggestion, especially if there is a group playing one consistently that could use another player.
Thanks in advance.
Comments
Tried GW2? While the base game is free it doesn't really sell anything useful besides the expansion (well, there is bankslots but you can buy them for ingame gold as well if you prefer farming). Raiding is still rather limited in it though.
Otherwise... I dunno, BDO maybe? GW2 is better (in my opinion) but it isn't bad at least.
EVE
BDO
GW2
Enjoy
Theme Park with decently written quests = Elder Scrolls Online
Hybrid Themepark with decent quests = Guild Wars 2
All are B2P with Cash Shop
All are worth playing IMHO
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
I would suggest FFXI or BD for PVE and ESO and GW2 for PVP.
Of course it does have the worst cash shop model in the history of MMOs. But yeah if you can get over that, seems like it fits the bill more than any other I can think of.
Worse cash shop than Archeage?
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
Archeage was p2w for sure, but BDO will be eventually, as soon as they allow cash shop items to be sold in the marketplace (which will happen after "the launch phase", whenever that is, probably soonish I'd imagine).
The main prodding they had was labor pots. But compared to the sheer amount of upgrades and consumables you are made to want from BDO's shop, it was nothing.
While playing it, I never felt like I was denied basic things. People that paid a thousand bucks could own me easily in PVP, but whatever, not a big deal as long as I could enjoy the game besides that.
I guess it's just a personal preference, but I can deal with being behind a guy that spent a lot of cash. At this point, you kind of have to rationalize it that way if you want to play MMOs nowadays. There's always going to be someone that spends more than you that has better gear- it's just a fact, and I don't think that's going to go away.
But at least they're paying with money what I can achieve with time. What I cannot deal with is someone cheating and getting ahead that way.
Same thing is true with the game I'm currently playing, BnS. People can (and do) pay hundreds or thousands for ridiculous gear. But whatever, I've got my wardrobe full of outfits, I can participate in all the content, and Arena pvp is equalized.
The thing that killed Archeage for me was Trion's blase attitude towards exploiters and hackers, not the cash shop. The same thing is starting to bother me with BnS, too, btw. NcSoft really has to answer for what they're going to do about summoner hackers in Arena. So far they've not said a word, and that's troubling. Bots are one thing, but hackers flaunting their hacks on the top of the leaderboard is quite another.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Archeage CS made me want to puke.
Haven't had to buy a single thing from the BDO cash shop as of yet and as the games stands now, I don't see the need to ever buy anything.
I might buy something for the mere fact that I want to support the game. Because I sure as hell don't want it to go P2W.
IMHO If I'm spending less than an average of $15 a month, I consider it good value no matter the cost of individual items.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
Games I can suggest:
Tera
GW2
BDO (this game has a learning curve and requires patience)
Aion (grindy)
Even still, don't you want a pet for auto-loot? Or to wear something different than your starter outfit? Or to dye it how you want?
I guess the free pet thing they have going on will relieve the pet issue for those currently playing, but the outfit thing is still a big stickler for me. I know it sounds silly but I don't think it's weird to expect different looks for your character as a basic feature that should be included in every MMO for free.
And to charge $30 if you want to change it (one time, for one character) is too much.
But I guess it doesn't seem so to the target audience of BDO. Just out of curiosity, I made a thread on the forums asking if people would pay $60 for a "deluxe outfit". The only difference was that it would "look better" than the regular outfits.
http://forum.blackdesertonline.com/index.php?/topic/73699-would-you-buy-a-60-deluxe-costume/&page=1
Roughly 1/3 of responders said they would buy it if it was made available. Many said they didn't vote because there was no "maybe" option. Some of the responders said that no they wouldn't buy it, unless it had really good stats on it.
The large amount of positive responses for an idea I consider completely unfathomably ridiculous reinforces the idea that there is a real disconnect between me and the target audience of the game.
Looks a bit better, early alpha footage, you find better screenshots and vids on this site....
Okay, here are some options. I'll only mention one big MMO incase you haven't played it recently and that is DDO. I disliked it greatly when it came out, but this game is a lot different now. The character building options are in a whole league of there own. There is a big population, tons of content and endless play through reincarnating to make your character more powerful.
One of my issues with this site is people only recommend the same handful of mmos everyone knows about or has played when it is clear that isn't what is being asked about. I can't play games with no character building or very superficial choice-lite character building such as modern wow or every other major mmorpg including GW2
For other games - Fallen Earth has a diverse and choice heavy open character building system. Decent population, good crafting system, lots of content.
The Skies just went in to early access but they are not planning any wipes. It is buggy but has a SPECIAL like character building system and they are going to add perks at a future date.
Metal Reaper Online. Choice Lite character building, but it has really fun, what I think they call "twin-stick" combat, but has all the bells and whistles of a mmorpg.
Dungeon Hero - Just came out. Pretty decent if you are looking for a quick fix of something new. Kind of like Dragon Nest but with open world aspects and the built in ability to bot. Can only play jrpg looking characters.
Devilian and ELOA and Tree of Savior - all basically the same thing. Fixed camera arpg in mmorpg form. I think only ELOA has crafting. Devilion has the least jrpg graphics. ELOA and Devilian have skill tree type improvements like vanilla wow sort of. Tree of Savior has some base classes and a bunch of classes you can pick at lvl 15, 30, etc up to 7 classes. You can pick the same class three times for more skills and skill points to put in skills. I like ELOA the most but can't really explain why.
ASTA - Like a Oriental themed WoW. Has two prong skill trees instead of three like old WoW. But you can freely assign attribute points. This is a good game worth checking out if you are nastalgic about old WoW and want an updated one with refined combat and better graphics.
For UO like games there are some coming up like Linkrealms entering beta on steam in early May. You have RPG MO on the lower end of the spectrum as well as Fantasy Tales Online for a decent middle ground.
Pathfinder Online is a good game with good mechanics and a very interesting character building options, but it is one of those player driven economy game so you build houses and crap instead of doing quests and you cannot sell anything to NPCs. Wild Terra is early access and is like that but with an Isometric perspective. I'm not sure about character building options. I think it may belike runescape where you can max all skills.
lastly, another big name MMO - Wildstar. No one recommends this game here but it is the best WoW like MMO I have ever played. Good character building options, great combat if you have it set to cursor lock, great instances, crafting, all of it.
There are of course, some good ones coming up such as Crowfall and Camelot Unchained. Project Genome looks like it is going to have an extremely interesting character building mechanics. Shards online, Repopulation, Otherworld all look like they will have worthwhile character building options and the content to go with it.
I don't care how many outfits there are in the marketplace. What I care about is how many are available to be earned in game.
In BDO, you're basically stuck wearing the same damn outfit the whole game unless you spend $30. Not only that but it's literally torn in places. You look like a fucking bum wearing it. Armor pieces you get do not change the appearance much at all, if you can even notice the difference. Helmet visuals were literally taken out of our version of the game so you have to buy an outfit if you want to see your character wear a helmet.
It still blows my mind just talking about it.
I don't know anything about combat pets. Can you obtain them in-game?
Why?
Because if the cash shop offers nothing that I would like or need to purchase. I would consider purchasing an item like that just to support the game.
If I enjoy and want to continue playing an MMO, I have no problem helping to support it. Whether it be a $60 costume or a $60 donation.
Think of it as you will.
If I'm spending less than an average of $15 a month for an MMORPG that I play and enjoy, I consider it of good value.
If any game goes to what I judge as P2W then I'm outta there. BDO will be no different *IF* that is the direction they decide to take one day.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
Honesty...
Every single 'I am looking for a game because I am so unhappy with my options' thread I have read more or less mention that they play AAA titles.
hmmmm
anyone else see a pattern here?
Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.
Please do not respond to me
I've played almost all the triple A's for the past 20 years. I've also played a lot of Indie mmo's and things like minecraft/trove, or project gorgon to name just a few, as well as single player rpg's and Muds. I try to play everything recommended so I can determine for myself if it's fun to me.
I'm not quite sure what your reply is trying to infer.
you:
''I've played or passed over ever AAA for the past 20 years and don't have one specific game type that I favor. If the game is good, I like it, if the game isn't fun, I don't like it. Purely subjective but that's true for all of us..'
you dont mention indie, you are focused on AAA now regardless of if you have played one or two titles of indie its clear your focus of your attention and respect for a game lies in the AAA farm.
I am saying THAT is your core problem
Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.
Please do not respond to me
I'm a backer. I've enjoyed daoc and warhammer and think this has a chance to be better then both of them.
I'm not expecting this until q3 2017