You want a social MMO experience, go play Ark Survival. Be warned though this game isn't for the faint-hearted.
I love dinos, but isn't Ark limited to a few players per server?
Play on an unofficial server with higher player counts, I've seen as high as 200, that is more than enough to provide you with both the heart ache and joy that comes from playing this game. You can play this game solo, but I wouldn't advise it. Stay away from official servers though!!!!! I made more friends and enemies playing this game this year than I did my entire MMO career, going all the way back to EQ days.
I group all the time in WoW and many other MMOs. Even EVE doesn't force people to group, but it happens all the time because its better to group than solo (but soloing is still possible)
I fail to see why a game needs to force grouping. Is that for people who are anti-social and can't group otherwise unless they are told to do so? I guess I can see that.
The reason for my search is I'm looking for an MMO to call my home. I want to be able to make friends and go on adventures (which sounds silly coming from a 20yr old man) but it's increasingly hard to do so when nobody wants to talk or interact. A game like what I'm looking for would build a real sense of community and encourage people to interact.
Sounds like what you're really looking for is a guild. Probably one that is large and plays several MMO's or is very big in just one. They exist in nearly every MMO. Some people say they're hard to find but I never have a problem finding them, especially if they organize group activities or just leave you alone when you want to go solo. Some MMO's let you join several guilds. Nothing wrong with adventuring with newly made friends. Good times.
"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
Decided to give Aion a try. Having fun with the combat so far, dispite me usually not liking Tab Target. I'm on SL if anyone wants to friend me
I hope it ends up to be what you're looking for. One piece of advice that may not be obvious is that using skills resets your auto attack timer. Especially when you start using multi-tier chain abilities, wait a split second in between skills to auto attack and it adds that much more damage. It also makes combat feel a little more engaging than just spamming.
If you like PvP rifting groups and Fort seiges when thier timers are up is so much fun.
Darkfall Rise of Agon launches May 5th.. you can try to solo but seriously doubt that will last long. Not sure if there are any real solo players in this game..... it would be much harder that is for sure! Pretty much damn near impossible.. so I'm gong to say that in that game you need to group with others right away from the beginning or you will won't get good gear and the good grinding spots. There's nowhere in the world of Agon that protects you completely from another player either... so rolling with others means protection as well. Good luck participating in most of the games main content solo, it's pretty much not going to happen.
NEWS FLASH!"A bank was robbed the other day and a man opened fire on the customers being held hostage. One customer zig-zag sprinted until he found cover. When questioned later he explained that he was a hardcore gamer and knew just what to do!" Download my music for free! I release several albums per month as part of project "Thee Untitled" . .. some video game music remixes and cover songs done with instruments in there as well! http://theeuntitled.bandcamp.com/Check out my roleplaying blog, collection of fictional short stories, and fantasy series... updated on a blog for now until I am finished!https://childrenfromtheheavensbelow.blogspot.com/Watch me game on occasion or make music... https://www.twitch.tv/spoontheeuntitled and subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUvqULn678VrF3OasgnbsyA
The style of game that actually requires interesting grouping and specialization in some way tends to be Open World, possibly Full/Partial Loot, PvP games, believe it or not. Sure, other games you group for PvE and that can be fun, but it doesn't mean it is ever particularly necessary. Making the monsters bigger for raids requiring specialization and grouping is somewhat interesting, but in the end, you're still dealing with AI, not a social creature on the other end. That is why someone mentioned MOBA games or CS:GO as something where you actually have to interact with humans, friend or foe, and often chat or voice chat is mandatory. Although in an MMO, you also have the other side being populated with social creatures that you could initiate actual diplomacy with, not some mindless AI. You could develop some form of honour code, or social norms within the game with everyone including enemies, and develop a culture. All very social things.
In the Open World, Full/Partial loot, PvP games, people are given the decision for themselves if they will group or not. Invariably a solo player will be at the mercy of coordinated groups. Many groups will want to add you to their growing group as well, and the social necessity of coordinating this results in mandatory socializing and grouping in general. You can play solo, for sure, but grouping is heavily incentivized in order to feel security and make progress in the world. There will be emergent tribal warfare as well, if the game design is good. You often hear solo players complain in these games that the solo experience is poor and you're at the whims of clans, well, this is the hallmark of what you would be looking for in a social game. You can still make the decision to play like this (the game is not directly forcing them into a group), with it's own consequences.
MMOs that do this in some way, mostly in Early Access but playable:
EVE online (Free to play option, Spaceship theme, established and developed)
Wurm Online (Free to play option, Fantasy theme, established and developed)
Mortal Online (Free to play option available)
Albion Online (releasing in July this year, currently final beta with access through founders packs, around $30 to play)
The Exiled (7 day free trial on Steam Early Access, $20 for supporter pack)
Crowfall (Early Access game although pricey to start now, like $70, very hyped in the MMO community due to the innovations. Packs to give later Beta Access around $46 to play)
Gloria Victis (Early Access on Steam for $20 to play)
Camelot Unchained (Early Access through founder pack of about $35 minimum to play).
Life is Feudal MMO (Early Access through founder pack, $45)
The new Darkfalls (Early dev, $20 to be a tester now, will be a subscription game on release where you get some months free for being a tester)
Pathfinder Online (Long history, but final dev run over the next year to finish or bust, $15 a month subscription)
Then you have the smaller scale (but still getting you that MMO/social feeling) survival sandboxes, but still with this sort of gameplay:
Conan Exiles (Early Access, $40 on steam)
Ark (Early Access, $30 on steam)
Rust (Early Access, $20 on steam)
Life is Feudal: Your Own (Early Access, $40 on steam)
Actually Vanilla Wow is decent for fostering groups (but clearly not necessary).
If you can handle talking to people Eve is easy to group up (but clearly not necessary).
EQ emulators are fantastic and essentially require groups after a while.
Ffxi emulators are also available at high quality although ive not gotten far (solo player).
See you in Pantheon
I've been looking at Vanilla WoW a bit and was wondering how defined are class roles? Can tanks heal themselves and DPS take on some support roles, or is it that tanks serve to tank and supports serve to support?
Comments
Played it years ago. Are many people still playing?
I love dinos, but isn't Ark limited to a few players per server?
"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
If you like PvP rifting groups and Fort seiges when thier timers are up is so much fun.
NEWS FLASH! "A bank was robbed the other day and a man opened fire on the customers being held hostage. One customer zig-zag sprinted until he found cover. When questioned later he explained that he was a hardcore gamer and knew just what to do!" Download my music for free! I release several albums per month as part of project "Thee Untitled" . .. some video game music remixes and cover songs done with instruments in there as well! http://theeuntitled.bandcamp.com/ Check out my roleplaying blog, collection of fictional short stories, and fantasy series... updated on a blog for now until I am finished! https://childrenfromtheheavensbelow.blogspot.com/ Watch me game on occasion or make music... https://www.twitch.tv/spoontheeuntitled and subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUvqULn678VrF3OasgnbsyA
In the Open World, Full/Partial loot, PvP games, people are given the decision for themselves if they will group or not. Invariably a solo player will be at the mercy of coordinated groups. Many groups will want to add you to their growing group as well, and the social necessity of coordinating this results in mandatory socializing and grouping in general. You can play solo, for sure, but grouping is heavily incentivized in order to feel security and make progress in the world. There will be emergent tribal warfare as well, if the game design is good. You often hear solo players complain in these games that the solo experience is poor and you're at the whims of clans, well, this is the hallmark of what you would be looking for in a social game. You can still make the decision to play like this (the game is not directly forcing them into a group), with it's own consequences.
MMOs that do this in some way, mostly in Early Access but playable:
- EVE online (Free to play option, Spaceship theme, established and developed)
- Wurm Online (Free to play option, Fantasy theme, established and developed)
- Mortal Online (Free to play option available)
- Albion Online (releasing in July this year, currently final beta with access through founders packs, around $30 to play)
- The Exiled (7 day free trial on Steam Early Access, $20 for supporter pack)
- Crowfall (Early Access game although pricey to start now, like $70, very hyped in the MMO community due to the innovations. Packs to give later Beta Access around $46 to play)
- Gloria Victis (Early Access on Steam for $20 to play)
- Camelot Unchained (Early Access through founder pack of about $35 minimum to play).
- Life is Feudal MMO (Early Access through founder pack, $45)
- The new Darkfalls (Early dev, $20 to be a tester now, will be a subscription game on release where you get some months free for being a tester)
- Pathfinder Online (Long history, but final dev run over the next year to finish or bust, $15 a month subscription)
Then you have the smaller scale (but still getting you that MMO/social feeling) survival sandboxes, but still with this sort of gameplay:mmorpg junkie since 1999
If you can handle talking to people Eve is easy to group up (but clearly not necessary).
EQ emulators are fantastic and essentially require groups after a while.
Ffxi emulators are also available at high quality although ive not gotten far (solo player).
See you in Pantheon
I've been looking at Vanilla WoW a bit and was wondering how defined are class roles? Can tanks heal themselves and DPS take on some support roles, or is it that tanks serve to tank and supports serve to support?