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Looking for something fresh, (long post...). Also, any Guild Wars people out there?
Hey guys,
First off I'm going to give a little back story about myself. I'm a long time MMO'er, first off. My first MMORPG was FFXI back in like...2003 or 2004. After that I went to World of Warcraft in around 2005-06, and I've played that off and on since then. I've also tried many other MMORPGs, but none for a very considerable amount of time, besides WoW and FFXI. But over the years both games I've grown very weary with, and I'm looking for something fresh. Maybe you guys can help me find something here... let me lay down some guildlines, and you guys tell me if anything comes to mind for you.
#1: First off, I'm considering both Pay to Play, and Free to Play MMOs right now. BUT, if the game is Free to Play, it MUST be able to be played free without being considerably behind people who pay. While I'm willing to shell out money to even buy/subscribe to a Pay to Play MMO, I hate the idea of the community not being balanced in a Free to Play MMO that gives huge above and beyond advantages to the people who pay. I just hate that idea, and I don't want to be a part of it. If it's a free to play game people actually play...for free though, that's fine! 
#2: Must have WASD move along with the mouse being able to fluently turn camera. I'm not down for that click to move BS.
#3: Must have...decent graphics. I played WoW for a long time, so you know graphics don't mean too much to me...but no Maplestory or Runescape graphics, no way.
#4: Must be a game that has a healthy playerbase (isn't known to be dying off...).
#5: I absolutely love using a Great Katana / Samurai class...If it has a Samurai class, that's a huge plus! Hah!
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That's all I can think of right now, as far as standards go. I'm willing to try new things, other than standard MMOs, so if you guys have any ideas, or games you think I should check out, do not hesitate to give me your suggestions! I would greatly appreciate them!
Also, if anybody has any guilds recruiting, or any active group of friends playing in any MMO, I'd love to join you! I've gamed with a group of guys for years now, but a lot of us are off doing our own things at this point, so I could use some more MMO gamer buds, heh.
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Note to Guild Wars people: Hey Guild Wars players! I was actually considering on picking up Guild Wars again. I played it a long time ago back when Guild Wars: Factions was new, and I was wondering, with me only owning Guild Wars: Factions, what all would I have to buy to get brought back up to speed? And how active is that game at the moment? I'm super hyped for Guild Wars 2, so I figure maybe the current Guild Wars could hold me over until GW2.
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Alright guys, thanks for the read and for your time.
Comments
I recommend trying Aion (pay), Age of Conan(pay), Lord of the Rings Online(pay/free), Warhammer Online (pay), or Dungeons and Dragons Online (free).
LotRO has a great storyline and is F2P if you're willing to shell out more money than the P2P option of it. The traveling system is a little rugged and works better if you pay for it.
Age of Conan was a little confusing at first. It's got hack and slash features as well as beautiful graphics, good storyline and extremely awesome features like gathering tools and supplies then actually building your own guild hall from the ground up.
Aion is extremely pretty, but lacks skill and class customizations. The flying feature is effing awesome. During launch, it was deemed another asian grindfest, but recently it has become a very nice game.
Dungeons and Dragons immerses the player in each dungeon. You feel that every turn you take makes a difference.
Warhammer is a good game, just very vanilla like WoW.
-Heros
-Inscribible weapons
-Storyline bridge for GW2
-Nightfall Campaign and EotN expansion
-New titles
-Zaishen quests & Rewards
-Traveler items in pre and post
-Hard Mode option
and well... a lot more. Name is Lucky Neck Meats on there
I second that suggestion for Warhammer.
Pretty fun. People ALWAYS say that it's a WoW clone, but it's not really true. Has some cool features that WoW does not and never will have such as:
-Open PvP battlegrounds
-2 levels (regular and then Renown- basically a PvP level for gear and such)
-AWESOME graphics, very gloom and doom though (but the game's story is kinda gloom and doom)
-Armor changer (a tool that allows you to change armor's appearence)
-Armor dye
-City sieges (not WoW style...they take awhile and in the end are worth it)
-Public Quests (you can guess this one
So that's a quick list of some of the feature's WAR has. It has an unlimited free trial up to 10 or so, so be sure to give it a shot. On a side note the leveling process can be a bit dull do to lack of alot of people leveling, meaning you won't do alot of PQ's or open PvP. But if you make it to the end-game it's fun as hell...for me at least.
EDIT: I should add that I have heard people say that grinding your Renown levels gets a bit old around 70 or so. I can't be sure though.
The answer is 42 you idiot!